The Water, the Wires, and the Wine
by siophiefandom
Summary: Emily has become McCullers Plumbing and Heating's best customer. It's always nice to have someone around the house who's good with her hands. Paily one-shot
1. This Old House

"Okay, and what's the address?" the gruff voice asked pleasantly.

"2722 Cambridge Street."

"Oh!" The man on the other end of the line perked up. "Miss Fields! Our best customer! We ought to give you a volume discount!" Emily laughed, hiding her embarrassment. "Okay," the man said. "I'll send Paige by at 9 AM tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you!"

Emily hung up the phone and blew out a long sigh. She had no business owning a house – especially one of those grand old Philadelphia row houses, where the plumbing was older than most colleges out on the West Coast. She knew, of course, that she was very fortunate, especially at her age, to own her own house, but, especially at times like this, she missed her old studio apartment. It may have been tiny, but she never had to worry about clogged drains or leaky faucets.

For as long as she could remember, Emily had wanted to be a writer, and, living in Rosewood, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the dream was always about writing in the city: Becoming a regular at the coffee shop where she would her early morning hours, writing late into the afternoon, ordering take out for dinner, and enjoying the Philly nightlife on the weekends. In her senior year at Temple, she got an internship with _Philadelphia Magazine_ , and that led to a position as a copy editor after graduation. It didn't pay much, but it was enough to allow her to live frugally in the city and still have time to write.

When her great aunt passed away and left behind an old row house in North Philadelphia that none of Emily's cousins had any interest in maintaining, the family decided to give it to Emily, since she was already living in the city. After the family took the keepsakes and curios that they wanted, Emily held an estate sale, which covered some minor renovations to make the house more suitable for a young writer than an older widow. The house itself had been paid off long ago, leaving Emily with just the property taxes, which were about the same as what she had been paying for rent, but with considerably more space. The house was big enough that Emily had the option of taking in a roommate – or offering a room on Airbnb, but she was in no hurry to do so. For the time being, at least, she was just enjoying the quietness of the house and all of its little spaces where she could write.

Enjoying it, that is, until one of the faucets started to leak.

Emily could've called her father to look at the pipes. That would have been cheaper – at least from a financial standpoint. But Emily would have had to accept the cost of being teased mercilessly by her dad about not being able to take care of minor repairs herself, about how she never outgrew her need for "Daddy" to come and bail her out, and blah, blah, blah. It was just easier to take the hit to her checkbook. And, despite what Mr. McCullers said about her being a regular, it didn't seem to Emily the she had called on his services that often; – five or six times, maybe, in the year or so that she had lived there. She didn't even think that he would remember her, since Philadelphia was a pretty big city. But, as Emily was beginning to realize, the city functioned more like a group of small neighborhoods. Yes, it was big, but McCullers Plumbing & Heating only covered a small portion of it. He was basically her neighborhood plumber.

Emily tidied up a bit and made sure that everything was wiped down in the bathroom before she went to bed that night, in preparation for Paige's visit.

* * *

Paige stood in the doorway in her usual navy blue coveralls, leather tool belt, and disarming smile. She was always very pleasant. Emily thought that she must really enjoy her job. She certainly enjoyed talking. The first time Paige came, to look into a drippy toilet handle, Emily wasn't sure how to behave with a contractor in the house. She didn't want to hover, as if she was checking on Paige's work, but she didn't want to seem aloof, as if she thought that talking to the plumber was beneath her. But Paige made it easy. She always had something to talk about, and she didn't make Emily feel helpless or foolish for not being able to fix her own plumbing problems. Once or twice, she repeated a story that she had told Emily on a previous visit, and Emily smiled to herself over that. With the amount of homes Paige had been in, Emily understood that she couldn't keep track of which jokes or stories she had already used. It was kind of cute.

Emily was leaning against the doorpost, with her arms casually crossed around her waist, as Paige worked under the sink. "So, do you think you'll take over your dad's business when he retires?"

Paige chuckled. "Oh, I never had much interest in the law," she said grunting as she twisted a pipe. "I'd much rather work with my hands." She turned and shot Emily a quick smile, about to continue, but stopped when she saw the confusion on Emily's face. "Oh! You mean my Uncle John's business!" Paige smiled, tilting her head, realizing that Emily thought that John McCullers was her father. "I _thought_ that question was a little out of the blue!"

Emily hid her face in her hand. "I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed. "I just assumed…"

Paige shrugged a shoulder. "How would you have known?" She gave Emily her disarming smile again before she turned back to the business underneath the sink. "My Dad and I never really got along," she explained. "Especially not after I came out." Emily was glad that Paige was back under the sink and couldn't see the smile that lit up her face when Paige mentioned coming out. "That's when Uncle John and his family took me in. He taught me a trade and made me a part of his business." Paige came out from under the sink, wiping the perspiration from her forehead with her sleeve. Emily reached for the bottle of water that she had brought Paige earlier and handed it to her. Paige tipped it in Emily's direction in gratitude and took a long gulp. "Some people think it's a step down, choosing plumbing over the law. But I like what I do," Paige said, upbeat. "I like problem-solving, you know? It's a new puzzle every time. Plus, I get to meet a lot of interesting people, and I get to see their houses…" Paige looked at Emily with a mock-serious expression. "You can't hide anything from your plumber," she said, managing to keep a straight face. "The pipes… the pipes tell all secrets."

 _And what do my pipes tell you about me?_ Emily wondered. She didn't have the courage to ask. Even though her long-held suspicion (or was it just a hope?) about Paige's sexuality had just been confirmed, Emily wasn't sure whether or not Paige was flirting, or even single.

"Anyway," Paige said, waking Emily from her mind's wanderings, "getting back to your question, I'm not sure. I mean, his kids don't have any interest in the business – which is why he taught me everything – so I would logically be the next in line, but, it's not so straightforward. Well, for one thing, I do electrical work on the side, and I don't know whether or not I could juggle those two things, or, you know, should I give up the electrical work for this established business…" Paige smiled, embarrassed that she was going through the whole decision-making process in front of Emily, who had just been making conversation. "Well, anyway," she said, turning back to the pipes. "We'll see. Uncle John has started talking about retirement, but I don't think he's going to be ready for that for a long time."

"Well, you obviously love the work," Emily observed.

"Yeah, I do!"

"And you're obviously great at it…"

Paige chuckled shyly, under the sink, where Emily couldn't see her expression. "Thank you," she said.

Back downstairs, as Paige finished writing out the invoice, Emily cleared her throat and, with a nervous flutter in her voice, asked, "So, you, um… You do electrical work, too?"

"Uh huh." Paige reached into a slot on the side of her tool belt and produced a business card. "Usually nights and weekends, though. You know, I'm not doing anything behind my uncle's back, but I want to make sure that I'm not costing him any business, whenever he needs me to go out on a call."

Emily held the card with both hands as she looked it over:

 **Paige McCullers  
Wiring and Electrical  
Repairs ****\- Renovations** **\- Emergency**

It was brief and to the point, just like Paige. Emily tapped the card against her thumb and raised it in the air, making a show of pinning it to her note board. "Well, I'll keep that in mind," she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

"I hope you do," Paige said with a slight huskiness in her voice that Emily assumed had to do with wanting to drum up new business, despite what her heart wanted her to believe about at least a little bit of flirting being involved.

Emily had always used the excuse that she never had time to research how to do home repairs, so it was a little odd that she found herself scouring the internet to find out about electrical work for the opposite reason: She was trying to learn how to break a lighting fixture, without making it obvious that it had been done intentionally. It was the kind of thing Toby would know for sure, but asking him was out of the question. He would tell Spencer, and Spencer would tell Aria and Hanna, and it would turn into a big deal. And the last thing Emily needed was for her friends to make it into a big deal. But she quickly gave up on her internet search, since the results that she was getting were all on some pretty sketchy web sites, for people who wanted to defraud their insurance companies or cover up a crime. Just looking at the search results made Emily feel vulnerable to being hacked.

It was amazing how often her plumbing broke down, but when she needed something to go wrong electrically, nothing.

She was having dinner at her dining room table one night (instead of in her basement office, where she usually ate) when a lightbulb came on – literally and figuratively. The chandelier above her great aunt's antique table was very old and elegant – and very bright. Emily wondered whether it could be put on a dimmer. That question, had it come to her a week earlier, would've been filed away on her "To Do – Eventually" list, but, with the knowledge that Paige did electrical work, the idea got fast-tracked.

Emily tried to convince herself that the idea wasn't crazy as she punched in Paige's number. It was a legitimate request, after all. Still, her heart was pounding as she waited for Paige – or, preferably, her voice mail – to pick up.

"Paige McCullers," Paige said, and Emily paused for a second, to make sure that it wasn't a recording.

"Paige? This is Emily."

"Hi, Emily! How are you?"

Paige didn't ask what she could do for Emily. She answered as she might have were it a regular phone call rather than a business call, and that helped Emily calm down. She didn't want to have to rush through the details of what she needed done, and Paige didn't seem to be in a hurry. Talking to her felt like talking to a friend.

"I, um…" Emily was about to launch into the speech that she had so meticulously prepared, when she realized what Paige had asked. "I'm good," she said in reply, quickly changing course. "How are you?"

"Great!" Paige replied, with that McCullers enthusiasm.

"Good!" Emily said with a chuckle. "Um… I was actually calling about some electrical work?" Emily was apologetic at interjecting business into the call.

"Great!" Paige repeated. "What can I help you with?"

"Well, I'm not sure this is even possible, but I've been wondering whether I could get a dimmer added to the light switch in my dining room?"

"Sure," Paige said. "I mean, probably. Do you know what kind of switch you want?"

"What kind of switch…" Emily echoed helplessly.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking, because it's an older house, you know, some people don't like to use those circular switches that you usually see. They think those switches look out of place. I could put in one that looks like a regular flip-switch, or I could put in a slider…"

Emily winced, realizing that she hadn't prepared adequately for this conversation. Paige picked up on the silence on the other end of the line and eased off. "Tell you what," she said reassuringly. "I'll bring a couple of options when I come, and we'll see what looks best. And you don't have to make a decision on the spot. I can leave the switches, and, once you've had some time to look them over, you can let me know which way you want to go."

"That sounds great," Emily said, relieved.

"Does tomorrow work for you?"

"Perfect!"

"Okay, how about 6:30?"

"That would be great, Paige. I'll see you then."

* * *

Paige took longer than usual getting ready, admittedly nervous about her upcoming appointment at Emily's house. She wasn't worried that she wouldn't be able to do the job to Emily's satisfaction; she was nervous because it was going to be the first time that Emily saw her in something other than those horribly unflattering coveralls that her uncle insisted that she wear to plumbing jobs. Over the years that they'd worked together, Paige had managed to get him to make some concessions to modern times. He let her put together a web site. He learned how to text her when any of her appointments changed, rather than using that balky radio in the van. And he started taking credit cards. But, on the issue of the uniform, he was unmovable. When you're going into someone's house, he insisted, you have to project an air of professionalism. And nothing was more unprofessional, in Uncle John's eyes, than the stereotypical plumber's crack.

Emily, too, was nervous about the appointment. Usually, during her daytime appointments, Emily was wearing her writing uniform: loose-fitting sweats, or yoga pants and a shapeless t-shirt. The outfit she had chosen for her electrical appointment was decidedly different, and she was worried that, even if she were able to work up the nerve to go through with her little plan, Paige, feeling underdressed and uncomfortable, would back away. Or Paige might rip off those coveralls, revealing a dashing tuxedo – or a flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off, showing those strong shoulders that not even the baggy coveralls could hide.

Emily was surprised but impressed when she looked through the peephole and saw Paige, in dark jeans, and a faded denim shirt over with a white t-shirt underneath. She didn't have her tool belt, but when Emily opened the door, she saw that Paige was carrying a toolbox instead. Paige's draw dropped a little when she saw Emily in her little black evening dress, but she pulled it together immediately. _Professionalism_. Emily was barefoot, as she usually was when Paige saw her, but her hair was down, not up in the bun that Paige was used to seeing on her other appointments.

Paige slapped her forehead with her palm. "Oh, crap!" she exclaimed, embarrassed. "It's Friday night! What was I thinking?" Shaking her head, she added. "I'm sorry, Emily. We can reschedule…"

"No, don't be silly, Paige!"

Paige hesitated for a moment before she came inside. "Okay. I'll be quick, I promise."

Emily smiled back at Paige as she led her to the dining room. "Paige, it's fine, I swear. I knew it was Friday when I made the appointment!"

As soon as Emily turned her head away from Paige, facing forward again, Paige dipped her head, shaking it in shame at her stupidity.

When Paige saw the bottle of wine and the pair of glasses on the dining room table, her face fell. "Oh, God. You've got someone coming over, and I'm going to have your wall all torn up…" Her whole body sagged as she tried to collect herself. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll hurry. You'll never know I was here."

Emily saw the look of panic on Paige's face and began second-guessing her plan – again. But Paige was so adorably flustered that it brought out Emily's protective instincts. "Paige," she said, putting her hands on Paige's shoulders to help settle her. Paige's shoulders were every bit as solid as Emily had expected them to be, and she found herself squeezing them slightly, before she realized that she was doing it. "Relax, okay?" she said in a soothing tone.

The feeling of Emily's hands on Paige's shoulders, combined with the consoling smile that Emily was flashing at her, short-circuited Paige's brain. She fell back into her only comfort zone: work.

Paige knelt down on the ground, opened her toolbox, and started fumbling through the collection of dimmer switches that she had brought. "So, um… as I was saying, we could go at this several different ways."

"So, I could get a switch that looks like this one," Emily proposed, pointing to the light switch on the wall, "but it's a dimmer?"

Paige nodded, brandishing a switch that was a pretty close match for the one that was already installed.

"Yeah – let's go with that," Emily said, nodding her head and smiling.

"Are you sure?" Paige said, standing. "You don't want to think it over?"

"No, I'm sure." Emily nodded again, with a confident smile. "It's perfect."

"I'm just going to need to get at your circuit breakers," Paige said, her voice breaking slightly. She had seen Emily's smile before, but there was something about it that night that made her stomach flutter. "I should be able to wrap things up here in about 15 or 20 minutes?" Emily nodded. "Or I could come back tomorrow morning? Or in the afternoon, in case you…" Paige stopped herself mid-sentence, realizing that there was no delicate way to continue. "In case you need to sleep in, after your guest keeps you up late?" "In case you two are still feeling a bit frisky in the morning?"

Emily looked rather confused about the sentence that Paige had cut off in the middle.

"I just don't want to be in your way," Paige pleaded. "You know, I'm supposed to be like the photographer at a wedding. You shouldn't know I'm there, until you see how great the end results are."

Emily had to laugh at the obscure example that Paige had chosen to make her point. She lightly slapped Paige's cheek twice. "Paige. Chill," she said sternly, before she broke into a smile.

Paige grunted out a shy laugh, sensing that she had enjoyed Emily's fingers on her cheek a little more than Emily had intended for her to. She cleared her throat. "So, uh… that circuit box?"

"Right… the… circuit box…" Emily swiveled around, surveying the layout on the first floor as she spoke. She knew she had seen the circuit box somewhere, but she had never paid that much attention to it, and she couldn't for the life of her remember where she had seen it.

Paige gestured with her arms, to give Emily a sense of the box's size. "It's a grey metal panel, with a bunch of…"

"Paige," Emily said, stifling a laugh. "I know what a circuit box is! I just don't know where _mine_ is."

"Probably in the basement," Paige said, grabbing a flashlight from her toolbox. Emily led the way downstairs. After they looked around a bit, Paige asked, "Is that a closet?" pointing to the far corner, where there was a door, partially blocked by Emily's desk.

"Oh, right!" As soon as Paige pointed it out, Emily remembered that the circuit box was behind it. "Sorry, I can move my desk."

"No need," Paige assured her, as she poked her flashlight inside the partially opened door. She was relieved to find that the breakers were labelled. Flipping one of them into the "OFF" position, she asked Emily to confirm that the chandelier had gone off. In a matter of minutes, she had replaced the switch – just in time, she hoped, for Emily to be able to use the dimmer to create some atmosphere befitting the bottle of wine.

"Listen," Paige said as she quickly gathered her tools together, "I can just drop off your invoice some other day, so I can get out of your hair…"

"Well, don't rush off," Emily said, whining slightly. Before Paige could start in again about Emily's date, Emily confessed. "I don't have anyone coming over tonight." She sighed, embarrassed. "This is going to sound silly, but I've been saving that bottle of wine" (Emily pointed vaguely towards the dining room) "for when I sold my first book, and I just got a notice from a publisher this week."

"That's fantastic, Emily!" Paige broke into a big smile and, before she realized what she was doing, gave Emily a hug. "That doesn't sound silly at all," she said. As she filled out the invoice, she joked, "I'd better keep my eyes on the events calendar at Barnes & Noble. I wouldn't want to miss your big book signing."

"Oh, God, no!" Emily laughed, her hand landing on Paige's shoulder. "This is just my first book! Trust me, nobody wants my signature…"

"Except for me," Paige joked, handing Emily a pen and pointing to the "X" printed on the invoice next to the block for the customer's signature.

As Emily signed, she explained, "I won't get asked to do any signings unless my book makes the bestseller list or gets made into a movie or something."

Paige handed Emily her copy of the invoice and held up the original. "So, I guess I'd better hang on to this signature, for when you're a famous writer?"

Emily shook her head, smiling. "I'm kind of like you," she explained. "I didn't get into writing because I want to be famous. I got into it because I just enjoy writing," she said with a shrug. "And, if I can make a living at it…"

"'Find the job you love, and you'll never work another day in your life.' That's what my uncle always says."

"Sounds like a wise man."

"Yeah." Paige dipped her head. Tucking the invoice into her file, she reached for her toolbox. "Okay, well, I'd better be on my way."

Emily grabbed Paige by the shoulder, lightly. "Paige…" She looked away, nervous. "Do you have to leave so soon?" Emily dipped her head. "I… don't like to drink alone."

Paige was confused for a split second. She had seen two wine glasses on the table. A smile stretched across her face as realization hit. "I don't have anywhere to be," she said in a soft, husky voice.

Emily led her by the hand back to the dining room table. As Paige opened the bottle, Emily dimmed the lights.

Emily wasn't a romance novelist, but even if she had been, she couldn't have come up with a more perfect ending.

* * *

 **A/N – Hey, all you beautiful people… I just wanted to let you know that I've been working on a prompt for a multi-chapter Paily fic that I was hoping to start posting in October, but life had other plans. :( So, please accept this little one-shot as my way of letting you know that I'm still on the Paily train, and my way of asking you to be so kind as to hang in there with me despite the delay.**

 **Thanks so much for reading! :)**

 **(…and by the way, I'm not so egotistical as to suggest by that last line that I think this story has the most perfect romantic ending…)**

 **(Oh, yeah – sorry about the title. I came up with a half dozen worse ideas before I settled on this one… ;) )**


	2. The Second Date

**A/N - Hello, my lovelies... Well, I'm still kind of stuck with the multi-chapter I'm working on (but I promise to start posting it in November!), so I thought I'd add another chapter to this fic. :)  
**

* * *

Paige sat nervously in her seat. She kept looking around the room, trying to think of something to say.

It was awkward, to say the least. Usually, conversation flowed easily between the two of them, but this was different. This was a date; their first, and they weren't sure how to make that transition. Emily didn't regret the things that she had set in motion. One way or another, they would have to have their awkward moment until they found their comfort zone, so they might as well get it over with. The wine would surely help.

"This is a beautiful house," Paige observed, chuckling slightly and dipping her head when she realized that she had already said that – twice. "I love these old houses," she mused.

"I guess so," Emily said, teasing. She reached for Paige's hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "They keep you in business!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Paige, now in her comfort zone, sat up straighter in her seat. "All that new construction you see in this neighborhood? We've been getting a _ton_ of calls to redo the plumbing. The only thing those builders care about is making it look good to the buyer, not making sure it'll up to par. But the plumbing in these old houses... It may be old, but, believe me, it's a lot more reliable."

Paige dipped her head again, sensing that she was talking about plumbing too much. _Emily's not interested in that, you idiot!_

"How long has your uncle been in business?"

"Let's see... 45 years? Is that right?" Paige tilted her head back in thought. "Yeah, 1973, so, coming up on 45 years."

"Wow! That's a long time to stay in business."

"Yeah. I guess it goes by quickly. And, in some ways, He's still living in the 70s. I'm slowly dragging him into the 21st century."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know. He started the business way before the internet. So, he never did any marketing on social media, or even on Google Ads. It was all word of mouth." Paige turned at Emily with a wink. "Don't get me wrong; word of mouth still works, you know, so... tell all your friends."

"No way," Emily protested. "I want you all to myself!"

Paige gulped at that statement, reminding herself that Emily was speaking of Paige the plumber, nothing else. She knew that good contractors were hard to find in the City, and people were protective of them. But Emily was giving her a smile that suggested that there was, indeed, something more than just customer loyalty behind that statement.

"So, do you date plumbers?" Paige asked, trying to pass it off as a joke.

"I'd date them in a heartbeat, if they're like you," Emily admitted.

"Like me?"

Emily touched Paige's arm. "you're always so patient. And you never made me feel stupid, with all my little problems. And I like talking to you."

"Stupid? Are you kidding me? With an MFA from Amherst and all of those certificates on your wall?" Paige scoffed, mumbling, "I'm the one who should feel stupid."

Emily squeezed Paige's arm, where her hand was still resting. "Paige," she said firmly, "after all the hours of conversation we've had, I know better than anyone that you're not stupid."

Paige shrugged her shoulders shyly, and Emily had to smile at how adorably self-effacing she was. "Anyway," she continued, "if my Dad knew that I had to call someone to fix all these little problems... He'd tease me mercilessly!"

"Well, no offense to your dad... I mean, I'm sure he's very handy, but... You know, a lot of people pull up videos on YouTube and think they can be their own plumber, but they end up doing more harm than good. And what should've been a simple repair turns into a pretty expensive one."

Emily laughed gently. "Yeah. I'm sure my Mom probably has a few stories about that."

* * *

They had finished the bottle of wine but were still talking when Emily noticed that Paige was getting a bit antsy. She stood and put her hand on Paige's shoulder. "Well, I know you weren't planning to spend this much time on this job. You've probably got somewhere to be."

"Not really," Paige said, but, not wanting to overstay her welcome, she added, "But I probably should be heading back."

"Well, listen." Emily took a step back, making some room as Paige stood up. It was now Emily's turn to be nervous, and she bit her lip before she continued. "A friend of mine, Aria, has a showing tomorrow night in Old City. I know It's short notice, but..."

"What kind of showing?"

"Photography. I mean, she works in all media, but she's showing some of her photographs at a gallery down on 6th, if you wanted to come." She added, "With me," almost as an afterthought.

Paige smiled broadly. "It sounds like fun."

"Yeah," Emily agreed eagerly.

"Where on 6th?"

"Sixth and Lombard," Emily replied. "If you wanted to meet me here, we could grab an Uber?"

Paige nodded. "So... how should I dress?"

"Comfortably," Emily replied, keeping her tone light. "I'm probably going to wear something like this, but..."

Paige followed Emily's hand as she gestured to show her dress, but she quickly moved her eyes back to Emily's, not wanting to get overly caught up in Emily's long, golden legs.

"Got it!" Paige oozed. "So, meet you here, at a quarter till?"

Emily nodded. "And maybe we could get dinner after? With her and her boyfriend?" Emily raised her eyebrows tentatively. A showing was one thing, but dinner with her friends was definitely a date.

"Perfect."

Emily stretched out her arms and gave Paige a hug. "I'll walk you out," she said, as Paige bent down to grab her toolbox.

Emily stood in the doorway, hugging herself against the cool night air, as Paige descended the stairs. "Wow! That's your car?"

"Yep, that's my baby!" Paige pressed a button on her key fob and the fiery red Mustang squealed to life, with Its headlights flashing at attention. The car was immaculate – not that Emily was surprised. She'd seen the way that Paige took care of her tools. "A lot better than that stodgy old pick up, wouldn't you say?"

Emily didn't reply, but just stared admiringly at the car, picturing herself in the passenger seat as Paige pounded the accelerator on a deserted stretch of road, showing what the Mustang was capable of.

"Okay," Paige called out, in no hurry to get into her car and end the evening. "Tomorrow, 5:45."

"See you," Emily replied, raising her hand to wave good-bye. She stood on her steps and watched as Paige pulled off into the night, waving as she passed.

Back inside the house, Emily smiled to herself as she replayed the last few moments of the evening in her head, her heart still pounding from the rush of asking Paige out on a date.

A few moments later, as she slipped out of her clothes, she recalled how much Paige seemed to have liked the dress. She got excited, thinking of the outfit she had in store for Paige for Saturday night.

* * *

Paige quickened her pace as she read Emily's text: "Running late. Door unlocked. 1234" She felt uncomfortable letting herself into Emily's house, but she felt more uncomfortable at the thought that Emily was alone and vulnerable, with her front door unlocked. It wasn't unusual for Paige's clients to leave her a key to let herself into their houses. It happened often enough for Paige to know that "1234" was the code for Emily's alarm. (They would have to have a talk about that easy-to-guess code.) Still, this was different. It wasn't a client. It was Emily. It was a date. Paige's heart leapt at that realization.

"Paige?" Emily called from upstairs when she heard the alarm being disarmed.

"Hi," Paige called out. "We need to change that code!"

"I know, I know! It was my great aunt's, and I never got around to changing it." Paige heard quickly moving footsteps and looked up towards the stairs, quickly looking away (to preserve Emily's modesty) when she her legs descending the staircase. At first glance, it looked like the same little black dress that Emily had worn the night before, but, once Emily was safely on the first floor and Paige redirected her gaze to her, she could see that this one was different - strapless, with a wide belt accented by a gold buckle around the waist. Emily was holding black pumps in one hand and earrings in the other. Her elbows were pressed tight against her side, to keep the dress from falling down.

"Wow," she said, giving Paige a quick once-over, admiring the fit of the simple gray slacks and white top that Paige had accented with a string of pearls. "You look great!"

Paige nodded, not quite able to choke out the words, "You, too" just yet.

Emily turned her back to Paige, moving the earrings to the hand with the shoe so that she could lift her hair out of the way. "Zip me up?"

Paige steadied her hands and grabbed the zipper, careful not to let it snag as she pulled it up. She didn't want draw out the process any longer than she had to.

"Thanks," Emily said, turning back to Paige with a somewhat embarrassed look at having to ask for help. She quickly put her earrings in and dropped her shoes to the floor, bracing herself against Paige's shoulder as she slipped into them.

"Should I get an Uber?" Paige asked, looking for something to do other than fawn over how incredible Emily looked – and smelled.

Emily smiled and stroked Paige's shoulder as a way of saying yes and thank you. As Paige tapped away on her phone, Emily made sure that her hair was just right and made a quick check of the contents of her purse.

"We're all set," Paige announced, pushing her own hair out of the way. "Six minutes."

"Thank you," Emily said sweetly.

Paige exhaled. "Are you sure I look okay?"

Emily put her hands on Paige's shoulders, staring in her eyes. "Paige, you look... amazing." She lingered there for a moment, and Paige started to panic, worried that she would do something inappropriate, like grab Emily around the waist and kiss her. Emily, sensing that she had made Paige uncomfortable by the forward gesture, backed away with a shy giggle, putting her hands penitently behind her back.

"You look amazing yourself." Paige reached out to put her hand on Emily's shoulders, as Emily had done to her shoulders, but Emily's shoulders were bare, so Paige chickened out. Instead, she gave Emily's shoulder a slight punch, the way her dad might have done before saying, "Go get 'em, kiddo!"

When the car arrived, Paige held the door for Emily. Emily slid across the seat, but when Paige climbed in, she was surprised to see that Emily had stopped in the middle seat. Paige lowered herself into the seat next to her, doing her best to respect Emily's boundaries, but every turn, it seemed, sent Emily sliding into her, and every pothole had Emily bracing herself against Paige.

* * *

Paige took Emily's hand to help her out of the car, then held Emily's purse as Emily rearranged her dress and her hair. They took their time going through the gallery, commenting on and, occasionally, sharing a laugh over Aria's work. Their hands kept brushing against each other at their sides until, finally, Paige took Emily's hand, interlacing their fingers. When she did, Emily leaned into her, their shoulders touching as they continued through the gallery.

There was a reception in one of the side rooms, where Aria was seated at a table, schmoozing with any guests who happened to drop in. She stood and greeted them, giving Emily a hug before hugging Paige, whom she greeted by name even before Emily introduced them formally. After a bit of small talk, Aria mentioned that she still had another twenty minutes or so at the meet and greet, and pointed them to a table off in the corner where Ezra was sitting.

Emily had told Paige about Ezra; about how the age difference, though not as big a deal with Aria in her mid-twenties, was quite a scandal in high school. Paige wondered what Emily had told them about her – if she'd told them anything at all.

Although Paige liked art and had enjoyed Aria's showing, she couldn't help feeling a little out of place. But she was enjoying Emily's company, and she always enjoyed meeting new friends. She kept a positive attitude, reminding herself that she was there for Emily. It wasn't long before Aria had finished, and they were headed to a small bistro in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, where the head chef was an old friend of Ezra's.

The restaurant was dimly lit and quiet; the kind of place Paige would've like to go with Emily when it was just the two of them. Emily stayed close the entire night, making sure that Paige was okay. She leaned in as they looked at their menus, using her little finger to highlight some choices on Paige's menu and then looking up into Paige's eyes, eager to see Paige's reaction. While they waited for their food, Emily held Paige's hand under the table, just to make sure that Paige felt connected.

And Paige did feel connected. Emily's friends were eager to talk to. They talked about Aria's show and her art in general, about Ezra's writing and about the coffee bar he ran back in their hometown, and they talked about Emily's good news from her publisher.

When the food arrived, Ezra asked Paige about the plumbing business. As a small-business owner himself, he was quite interested in how Paige had managed to take her uncle's business from the stone age to the computer age.

"Kicking and screaming," Paige said, wiping her mouth with the white linen napkin. "If he had his way, we'd still be using those giant ledgers, like Bob Cratchit."

"So, what do you use, now?"

"QuickBooks."

"Well, God bless you," Ezra said enthusiastically. "I still can't manage to get my head around that program." Turning to Aria, he asked, "Or is it an app?" Aria just rolled her eyes.

"I took some accounting classes," Paige explained. "Well, I mean, just some night classes, at Community," she added deferentially.

"Don't sell yourself short," Ezra said. "If there's one thing I've learned in my years as an educator, it's that the student is much more of a factor in getting an education than the school itself. Someone like you who's motivated... Well, let's just say that, if I'd seen more students like that, I might still be teaching!"

After dinner, Ezra suggested drinks, but Emily was cautious. "Aren't you guys driving back to Rosewood tonight?"

"We actually booked a room for tonight," Ezra told her.

"I've got to be here for tomorrow's showing at 2:00," Aria explained, "and I need to talk to the owners beforehand, so..."

"Well, you know you could always stay over at..." Emily saw the look that Aria was giving her and threw her hands up, backing away from what she was about to offer. "So... drinks?" she said awkwardly.

Paige knew a place that was only a few blocks away, and they set off for it. Drinks continued pretty much as dinner had, and, soon, the two couples were getting ready to go their separate ways.

"Do you have a business card?"

"Ezra," Emily muttered defensively.

"It's okay, Em." Paige put her hand on Emily's shoulder, reaching for a card from her wallet. "We're not licensed out in Rosewood, but I'd be happy to take a look at your plumbing."

"My plumbing?" Ezra laughed. "No, my plumbing's fine. I wanted to pick your brain about QuickBooks!"

"Oh! Absolutely," Paige said eagerly. She took her turn behind Emily to say good-bye to Ezra and Aria with hugs.

* * *

Once again, Emily slid to the middle seat when their Uber arrived. This time, when Paige sat next to her, Emily wrapped her hands around Paige's arm and rested her head on Paige's shoulder.

When Paige walked Emily to her door, Emily was begging for Paige to take control. She loved ballsy women; the kind who would sweep her off her feet and make her swoon with a kiss, without even asking.

Paige wasn't necessarily the bold type, but she had been paying attention, and had picked up on all the subtle hints that Emily had been giving all night. She pushed her hair out of the way and, with a look of determination, took Emily by the waist and kissed her.

It took a minute for both of them to steady themselves and catch their breath after the kiss. Emily put her hands on Paige's shoulders. Paige's hands were still around Emily's waist.

"How are you getting home?"

Paige smiled and, looking down at her feet, replied, "The same way I got here."

"It's late," Emily said, worried. "Why don't you stay over, in the guest room?"

Paige, eager to show that she wasn't afraid of walking alone after hours, backed away slightly, still holding on to Emily. "I'll be fine..."

"Please?" Emily smiled seductively. "I'll make you breakfast..."

Emily could see Paige's resolve start to crumble as she imagined Emily, in a short robe or oversized t-shirt, milling around the kitchen in the morning; maybe humming to herself. She knew that it wouldn't actually be like that, of course, but the thought alone made her reconsider the virtues going back home to her lonely apartment.

"I make a mean breakfast," Emily said with a flirty lilt in her voice.

"Yeah?" Paige's voice was soft and husky. Her arms were still around Emily's waist, and she leaned in to give Emily a quick kiss. "What would you make for me?"

Emily started letting her fingers wander around the V-neck collar of Paige's top. "I would make you... apple-slice-and-Gorgonzola omelets with mango chutney, a wheatgrass and kale smoothie, and a fruit cup." Emily raised an eyebrow, to gauge Paige's reaction.

Paige's head snapped back. "You could do all that?"

"Oh, Paige..." Emily kissed Paige, the first time she had done so. "You'd be surprised what I can do!"

Paige's smile was so wide that her eyes closed. "Okay," she said, releasing her grip on Emily as Emily reached for her keys.

* * *

Emily found a pair of sweats for Paige to change into and made the bed while Paige got out of her clothes and freshened up a bit. Emily was waiting for her, seated at the foot of the bed in the guest room, when Paige returned from the bathroom. "How do I look?" Paige asked, taking a spin to show off the outfit.

Emily laughed. "Comfortable."

"I feel comfortable," Paige said wryly. She really did, and she wasn't just talking about the clothes.

"Did you want to watch something for a bit, before we head to bed?"

Paige wasn't about to say no to an opportunity to spend more time with Emily, and they soon found themselves on Emily's couch, with Emily's head on Paige's chest as they watched some late night talk show that wasn't doing much for them other than providing an excuse for them to stay in each other's arms on the couch. Emily was fanatical about muting the TV during commercials, and, when she didn't turn the volume up after a commercial break, Paige looked down, to prod her, but noticed that she was fast asleep. She eased the remote out of Emily's hands, and Emily responded by clinging to Paige's sweatshirt and nuzzling a bit closer. She looked so serene that Paige didn't have the heart to disturb her. She knew that she would pay for it in the morning, with her arm asleep and probably a crick in her neck, but she pulled a blanket over the two of them and settled in for the night.

It seemed a bit soon for them to be sharing their first sleepover, but, at the same time, it felt comfortable. Like the sweats, the dinner, the hand-holding at the gallery, and the conversation over the bottle of wine. Comfortable like Emily. Paige had found someone whom she could be herself with, and she wasn't letting go.

* * *

 **A/N - Thanks so much for indulging me as I took another flight of fancy with these two! Hugs!  
**


	3. Sunday in the Park

**A/N - So , it sort of feels as though I'm cheating on my multi-chapter with this story, but what can I say? I can't seem to stop myself... Thanks for reading! :)**

* * *

Emily woke up in the middle of the night, on the couch, in Paige's arms. She felt guilty for falling asleep like that, when she had promised Paige that she could have the bed in the guest room.

Emily had to smile as she looked at Paige, sprawled out on the couch like a big, protective puppy dog, and snoring slightly. Another wave of guilt washed over her when she considered how uncomfortable the position looked. She tried to scoot away, to give Paige some relief, but Paige tensed up, as if she'd been startled in her sleep. Without opening her eyes or changing her breathing, she tightened her grip around Emily.

"Paige," Emily whispered, repeating it a little louder, when Paige didn't respond. Ultimately, Emily gave up and settled back in at Paige's side. She was too tired from the wine to give it any more effort, and she knew that Paige had to be exhausted, too. Plus, it felt so cozy lying there. They would figure it out in the morning.

Paige was still asleep when Emily awoke again, later that morning. With a devious smile on her face, Emily started kissing Paige on the neck. Paige started smiling, too, and grumbling, softly pushing against Emily's face, her eyes still firmly shut. Emily kept up the kisses.

"Cut it out," Paige said through her sleep, still smiling. "Come on. That's enough, Shana!"

Emily backed away for a second, in surprise. But, she knew that she wasn't the first person who had ever kissed Paige, and she didn't feel jealous over Paige's past. She'd never heard Paige talk about Shana, and she was pretty sure that Paige wasn't the cheating type. She went back in for more, kissing Paige's neck again, both because she was having fun watching Paige squirm like that and because she was hoping to find out more about who this Shana was.

"Come on, Shana… Knock it off!" Paige pushed Emily a little more forcefully than she would have, had she been fully awake. Emily landed flat on her butt on the hardwood floor with a thud that woke Paige immediately.

Paige looked around for a moment, unsure where she was or what had just happened. When she saw Emily on the floor, she sprang to her feet and helped her up. "Oh, God, Em! I'm so sorry! I was… I was having a dream…"

"I heard," Emily said with a playful lilt in her voice as she dusted herself off. "Who's Shana?"

Paige laughed softly. "Shana is my dog," she admitted.

"Dog…" Emily said, wistfully.

"She likes to wake me up like that, when I oversleep," Paige explained. "Sorry for pushing so hard. She…. I think she weighs a little more than you."

Emily laughed at that. "Good answer!" she said with a wink. "What kind of dog is she?"

"She's a Weimaraner?" Paige phrased it as a question, not sure that Emily was familiar with the breed. Retrieving her phone from the table, Paige pulled up a picture.

"Oh, she's beautiful," Emily said, taking the phone and swiping through some more pictures. She looked at a couple before she thought to check with Paige that it was okay to stalk her pictures like that. "I love dogs. I don't know why I never got one."

"Oh, thank God," Paige said, relieved. "I was afraid you weren't a dog person – or that you were one of those girls who likes those cutesy little dogs you can carry in your purse or something."

Emily nudged Paige with her elbow, rolling her eyes at the comment. "I hope she has a doggy door or something. You should've told me… She must need to go out?"

"Oh, I texted my cousin last night, when we decided to go for drinks, so he took her out. And later, I let him know that I wasn't going to make it home, so he probably just spent the night there. Sometimes," Paige explained, "he likes to get away from his place, 'cause his roommates can get kind of rowdy on the weekends."

Emily stood up, leaning back over the couch to put her hands on Paige's shoulders, and kissed her. "Well, I promised you breakfast, didn't I?"

Paige smirked, her voice soft and husky. "I thought that was just a line, to get me to stay over."

Emily chuckled deviously, swiping her finger across Paige's cheek. "I would've said anything to keep you from leaving," she teased before turning to head to the kitchen.

Paige sat on the couch with her hands on her knees, taking a moment to savor everything that had taken place. Emily looked back from the door to the kitchen, nodding her head to signal Paige to join her.

Paige was really looking forward to seeing Emily do her thing in the kitchen. As she stood, she worked out a bit of stiffness in her shoulder by rotating her arm a couple of times. Emily, feeling guilty, gave Paige a sympathetic pout as she walked over, and she put her hands on Paige's shoulders again. "I'm so sorry, Paige. I really didn't mean for you to sleep on the couch like that." Emily started rubbing Paige's shoulders. "Do you want me to rub it out for you?"

Paige ducked out from under Emily's hands. "You know what? I'm actually fine. But thanks."

It had been hard enough for Paige to keep her hands to herself with Emily snuggled up to her on the couch all night. She didn't know what she would do if Emily kept massaging her shoulders that way.

"Paige!" Emily pleaded. "I feel bad – let me fix it!"

"No, you don't have…" Paige paused, suddenly unable to look Emily in the eyes. "It's fine, Em. Really."

Emily, sensing that something was up, shifted her position so she was in Paige's line of sight and raised an eyebrow.

Paige smiled nervously. "Okay, I have a confession…"

"Okay…"

"Last night… when you… tried to wake me up and get me to go to bed… I was… just pretending… to be asleep."

Emily jaw dropped. Then, she folded her arms and scowled, pretending to be upset. "Why you little trickster!"

"I know," Paige said, still smiling nervously. "It just… it felt so good, you, me, together."

"Damned right it did!" Emily put her hands on either side of Paige's face and started kissing her. Pretty soon, it was the two of them back on the couch again, and breakfast was the furthest thing from their minds.

* * *

Paige sat at the kitchen table, admiring the view as she watched Emily make breakfast. She had offered to help, but Emily was dead set on doing it herself, to prove, in her words, that Paige wasn't the only one who was skilled with her hands. Paige was a little bit uncomfortable just sitting there doing nothing. It was all right for the most part, when she and Emily were talking, but when Emily took a call from her mother, insisting that Paige stay put, Paige had to find some way to occupy herself, for fear of would be eavesdropping.

She took a look around, to keep her mind occupied. The kitchen wasn't really laid out very well. Paige started forming plans in her mind: A center island, some rods to hang the pots and pans, better lighting, and some upgrades to the sink and faucet. She had a couple of cousins who could help with the carpentry, and…

"Paige," she heard Emily say into the phone. Turning her back to Paige and lowering her voice a little, she said, "I told you about her… We went to Aria's thing last night…" Emily paused while her mother talked, and then exclaimed animatedly, "Oh! There are pictures?" Realizing that she was talking too loud, she smiled turned towards Paige with a shy smile. Paige pointed to the door and started to get up, but Emily put her hand on her shoulder, to keep her in her seat. "Mom? I should really get going… I'm in the middle of making breakfast." Emily laughed nervously at her mother's response and said, "Thanks" before she ended the call with an "I love you, too."

"My Mom says hi." Still working on her breakfast, Emily handed her phone off to Paige. "And, apparently, there are pictures."

Paige caught on to what Emily was asking and opened her Instagram. "Oh, okay," she said, once she had found them.

"Anything good?" Paige stood next to Emily and held the phone in front of her so that she could see the pictures. "Awww… We make a cute couple!" Emily giggled to herself at the "Aw, shucks" way that Paige's head dipped on hearing that. She had to kiss her on the cheek; she couldn't help herself.

* * *

"So, I take it kale isn't really your thing."

"Are you kidding me?" Paige choked down a big gulp of her smoothie. "This is awesome, Emily!"

Emily rolled her eyes and took the cup from Paige. "You don't have to finish it." Emily got up to grab Paige a bottle of water instead. "I'm guessing you're more of a bacon and home fries kind of gal."

Paige shrugged her shoulders. "Guilty…" Clearing her throat, she said, "But breakfast was great, Emily. I really liked the eggs!"

"Thanks," Emily said softly. "But just so you know, I can cook bacon and potatoes, too. I just don't usually keep that kind of food around the house. You know, shopping for one."

"You don't have to impress me, Em," Paige said with a kiss. "I'm not here because of the breakfast."

Emily patted Paige's cheek, letting her hand linger for a moment before she got up to clear the table. "So, what are you doing today?"

Paige got up with a stretch and went to help Emily with the dishes. "Oh, on Saturdays, I usually take Shana out for some fun."

Emily turned, pointing a threatening spatula at Paige. "And you're _sure_ Shana is your dog?" she teased.

Paige raised her hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I swear! You can come meet her, if you don't believe me!"

Emily's heart fluttered a little. She had spent much of Saturday and the first part of Sunday with Paige. She wasn't ready for their time together to end, but she wasn't sure that Paige was really serious about the offer. "I might have to take you up on that," she said, turning back to the dishes in the sink. "You know, fact-checking is an important part of any writer's life."

Emily felt Paige's hands surround her waist. "Please do," she husked into Emily's ear. "Shana loves meeting new people."

There was no doubt about it. Paige didn't want to end their time together, either. Emily leaned her head back against Paige's shoulder. "I'd love to meet her, too."

* * *

Paige and Emily held hands as they walked south and west from Emily's neighborhood to Paige's. Emily wasn't used to walking in Philadelphia. It was always easier to get an Uber. But she didn't mind walking with Paige. When she walked with Paige, it wasn't so much about getting to the destination as it was about enjoying the journey. Emily was noticing so many new things; details that got lost as she whizzed by them in a car, her face focused on her phone. The city was much better with someone to share it with.

"I like this," Emily said, stretching the hand that wasn't holding Paige's hand across her waist and gripping Paige's arm. "This is really a beautiful city."

Paige scoffed. "Parts of it," she conceded.

Emily laid her head on Paige's shoulder. "Well, I like walking with you," she admitted. Paige rested her head on Emily's briefly before putting a kiss on top of it.

* * *

"Now, I have to warn you," Paige said, halting before she put her key in the lock. "I'm not sure what shape my apartment will be in, if Mikey's still here."

Emily felt like a dog having to sit still with a steak being dangled in front of her. She really wanted to see what Paige's apartment looked like – not to mention to see how she and Shana would get along.

He wasn't there, but neither was Shana. "He must've taken her out for a walk," Paige explained, smiling nervously.

"Uh huh," Emily teased, tilting her head to the side. "And you're sure you didn't just make up this so-called dog, just to cover up for whomever you were dreaming about?"

Paige raised her hands to protest her innocence. Even though she knew that Emily was just teasing her, she really wished that Shana was there, so that she had proof. "Let me just give Mikey a call." Paige reached for her phone and punched up her cousin in her contacts. She swished her head to get the hair out of the way and looked over to Emily, who was meandering around the room, getting the lay of the land. "Mikey!" The name came out a little more impatiently than Paige had intended.

"Hey, Mouche!"

Paige took a quick look over to Emily, hoping she hadn't heard that nickname.

"Where are you?"

"I, ah, took Shana out for a walk. There was no telling when you were getting back, so…"

Paige checked Emily again. She hoped Emily _had_ heard Mikey's confirmation of Shana's name.

"You guys at the park?"

"Nah, we're about a block away from your place. Heading back now."

Paige put her hand over the phone. "Want to go to the dog park?"

Emily smiled gamely, shrugging her shoulders to indicate that she was up for whatever Paige had in mind.

"We'll meet you," she said into the phone.

"Oh, _we!"_ Mikey said that loud enough that there was no way that Emily didn't hear it – or the knowing laugh that followed. Paige looked over to her and rolled her eyes at Mikey's immaturity. "Okay, we'll wait for you."

"I love him," Paige said after she ended the call, "but sometimes…"

Emily patted Paige's shoulder sympathetically. Paige wrapped her arms around her waist and kissed her. "He knows nothing happened last night," she said softly, with a hint of guilt. "I mean, he started teasing me about spending the night over there, but I shut it right down."

Emily rubbed Paige's shoulder and nodded. "I trust you," she assured her.

* * *

Emily was a bit relieved when Paige reached for her hand as they started down the sidewalk. She wasn't sure how she should behave around Mikey – did he know that they were a couple? Were they even a couple? Was Paige ready to tell her family? Mikey didn't seem fazed at the sight of the two of them. Shana was certainly excited. Mikey tried in vain to calm her down. All it took was a stern, "Shana" from Paige to do the trick.

"Good girl," Paige said, when Shana settled, her tail still wagging wildly. "Come here," she invited, and Shana came over to sniff Emily's hand and give it a lick.

They were instant friends. It helped that Emily was carrying Shana's favorite toy.

"Mikey, this is Emily. Emily, Mikey," Paige said perfunctorily.

Mikey rubbed his hand against his pants, in an exaggerated demonstration that he was cleaning it off, before shaking Emily's. "Pleased to meet you." He was fully polite, but the knowing smile that he was giving Paige and Emily spoke volumes.

Paige made a show of taking Shana's leash from him. "Well, thanks for looking after her." When Mikey just stood there, still staring at Emily with that big dopey grin, Paige added, "And, we'll take it from here."

"Oh… Yeah, okay." Shrugging at Emily, he said, "Guess I wore out my welcome, right?" Emily smiled politely.

"Right," Paige said, not-so-subtly turning Mikey around, facing anywhere but the park. "So, we'll see you later."

"Okay, Mou… _Paige!_ "

Paige took Emily's hand again. "So, that's my cousin," she said, matter-of-factly. "He really is a great guy," she conceded.

Emily just kept staring at Paige with a knowing smile. The stair eventually made Paige so uncomfortable that she asked, "What?"

Emily shook her head. "You know you're going to have to tell me, sooner or later." When Paige gave a blank response, Emily prodded, "Mouche?"

"Ugggh!" Paige let go of Emily's hand, still holding onto Shana's leash, so that she could run her fingers through her hair. "Okay, when we were young, my cousin used to love to torture me." Paige's voice was a resigned monotone. It seemed that she'd told this story before – a lot. "He was very big into Spider Man, and he used to set traps for me, telling me, 'I'm the spider, and you're the fly.' So, yadda yadda yadda, fast forward a few years, and he found out that 'mouche" meant fly in French. Meanwhile, he hadn't done the Spider Man shtick for years, but all of a sudden, I was 'Mouche.' And _that's_ the nickname that stuck."

Emily touched Paige's cheek, laughing lightly. "Ha – _Mouche_ …"

"No!" Paige pointed her finger at Emily as if she were training Shana. "No! Bad girl!" She couldn't pull it off, though, and she gave it away with a smile, leaning in to Emily and wrapping an arm around her waist.

The park was fairly crowded, and Shana spent a bit of time socializing with some of her friends who were there. For the most part, though, she was content to retrieve her ball when Paige or Emily threw it, or to run around and chase them. They were all exhausted by the lunchtime. They settled in around an outdoor table at a café, so they could keep Shana with them rather than dropping her off at Paige's apartment.

"She's really well-behaved," Emily pointed out.

"Yeah. Well, she's very intelligent. She just has a tendency to love people a bit too much."

Emily smiled to herself, thinking that it was true what people say: Dogs take after their owners.

* * *

Paige didn't want to ask Emily whether or not she needed to get back home. She was afraid that the answer would be yes, and their time would be over. She wasn't sure when she would get to see Emily again. So, instead of asking, she just awkwardly lingered at the table after they finished eating, finding things to point out as they watched people walk by. Eventually, Emily asked, "Well, should we be getting back?" and there was no question that she meant back to Paige's place. She took Shana's leash for the walk. It wasn't very far, but they took their time and let Shana survey all of the trees and posts, to see what the other dogs in the neighborhood had been up to.

When they got back to the apartment, Paige got Shana settled in while Emily went to freshen up. Paige was standing in the living room when Emily finished. Emily looked at her quizzically. "Do you need to be somewhere?"

"Oh, uh… no… I… Do _you_ need to be somewhere?"

Emily put her arms around Paige's waist and started kissing her. "No," she said, in a deep, inviting voice. They continued kissing as Paige moved them to the couch, realizing how they were going to spend the afternoon.

* * *

When evening rolled around, Emily offered to make dinner, but Paige said no, claiming that she hadn't had a chance to do her grocery shopping. They ordered Chinese instead, and spent the night watching TV as they ate it, and long after they finished it. Emily was stretched out, with her feet in Paige's lap, leaning on the arm of the sofa occasionally running her fingers through her long, dark hair.

Emily stole the fortune from Paige's cookie before Paige could read it. "You will spend your Sunday with a beautiful woman and a dog."

"Wow, those things are never accurate, are they?" Paige teased. "I think it was supposed to say, 'with a woman and a beautiful dog.' – Ow!" Paige rubbed her shoulder in mock pain, where Emily punched her.

"My Dad used to read my fortunes," Emily explained. "It was always something like, 'Your father is the strongest, handsomest man in all of Pennsylvania.' I always knew he was making it up, but even when I was old enough to read, he still kept doing it."

"What did he say when you read the real fortune?"

"'Oh'," Emily said in Dad-voice, "'I guess I need to get my glasses checked,' or something like that. He always had an excuse."

Paige was wide-eyed, smiling at Emily. "It's so great that you and your dad get along like that."

"Sorry," Emily said sympathetically. "I didn't think about…"

Paige took her hand. "It's fine," she said. "I've made peace with it. And besides, I don't want your relationship with your dad to suck just because mine does."

Emily tightened her lips, not knowing what to say. In the end, she just returned Paige's fortune to her.

"Hmm… I thought you were kidding, but it really did predict the beautiful woman and the dog."

Emily handed Paige her fortune cookie, resignedly droning, "Okay… what does mine say?"

"It says… " Paige hesitated. "You can stay over, if you want.'" Paige kept her eyes firmly fixed on the fortune, rather than Emily. Twiddling the tiny strip of paper in her hands, she added, "I don't have a guest room, but you can have the bed. I'm fine on the couch."

Emily kissed Paige on the cheek, making her smile. "Okay." She took hold of Paige's arm and laid her head on Paige's shoulder as they found a movie to watch.

One movie led to the next. In the meantime, Paige cleared their delivery containers and tidied up a bit. It started getting late. Emily stifled a yawn during the credits of "Ghostbusters." They both knew they couldn't keep the night going forever, especially since Paige had to get to work the next morning.

* * *

The sheets were clean, but Paige changed them anyway. Emily nosed around in Paige's walk-in closet as Paige found something for her to wear. She put her hands around Paige's waist from behind and her chin on Paige's shoulder. "You know, I always thought you had, like, a closet full of those blue jumpsuits on hangers," she teased.

"Oh," Paige turned to a set of drawers and pulled out the one on the bottom, revealing two stacks of neatly folded suits with "McCullers Plumbing and Heating" on a patch on the right side and "Paige" stitched into the other side. "They're hideous," Paige pronounced, shrugging her shoulders after she slid the drawer closed, "but, what can I do? It's my uncle's business."

"Can I try one on?" Emily asked, suddenly animated.

Paige rolled her eyes. "Ha ha."

"I'm serious! Ooh – Can I wear one to bed tonight?" There was just something about the thought of sleeping in that jumpsuit with Paige's name on it that excited Emily. She realized how creepy it must've sounded, so she laughed, trying to play it off as a joke.

"Do not disrespect the MP&H jumpsuit!" Paige cautioned softly. But she realized that wanted to see what Emily would look like wearing it. "Okay, fine," she said, as if she were doing Emily a huge favor. She opened the drawer and handed Emily one of the uniforms, closing her into the closet to give her some privacy.

Emily looked adorably out of place in Paige's uniform. The fact that being in it made her so giddy only added to the adorableness. She took about a dozen pictures of herself, saying, with her voice about two octaves deeper than usual, "Let me fix that leak! I think we're going to need a three-inch S pipe for the sink!" She threw in a couple other phrases that sounded vaguely like things she had heard Paige say on her many visits.

It was bittersweet for Paige. She loved seeing Emily playful like that, and the vision of her in that jumpsuit was incredible. It just sucked to have to spend the night on the couch, with Emily in her bed.

* * *

 **A/N - Yeah, I guess there has to be a chapter 4, doesn't there? I can't leave it like this... Please stay tuned! :)**

 **(P.S. - In case you're wondering, the title is from the Sondheim show, "Sunday in the Park with George," not the Chicago song, "Saturday in the Park." But you weren't wondering, were you?)**


	4. Along came Monday

Paige woke up not long before midnight. She thought that she had heard crying in the bedroom. She was sure that it had been her imagination, but she crept to the door just in case. She was being as quiet as she could, not wanting to wake Emily if the cries had just been a dream. Standing outside the door, she listened for a moment. There was definitely some soft sobbing coming from inside.

"Emily?" Paige said softly, knocking gently on the door. Shana sleepily headed over, to see what was going on. Paige eased the door open and Emily sat up, ashamed of the fact that she'd gotten so emotional and had awakened Paige.

"I'm okay," she said, sniffling slightly.

Paige rushed to the side of the bed. "What happened?"

Emily let out a deep breath. "It's stupid," she said, gesturing in the air. "I just…" She sighed. Reaching out to pet Shana, she explained, "Playing with Shana today reminded me of the dog we used to have when I was growing up, and how much I missed him. And I had a dream about him, running around the park with us… and Shana" – Emily quickly added the part about Shana, thinking that it was probably too soon for her to be dreaming about Paige – "and," she continued, "it was just hard waking up and realizing that it was only a dream."

Paige put her arm around Emily's shoulder and hugged her. "What was his name?"

"Zingy," Emily said. She waved her hand, letting it fall against her thigh. "Long story… I had a thing for names like that – Pingy, Wingy… – and he used to zing around the backyard, so…"

"I know it must be hard," Paige whispered, rubbing Emily's shoulder.

Emily just nodded. "I'll be okay," she assured Paige.

"I know you will." Paige pulled her closer and kissed her cheek.

Paige sat patiently, holding Emily, and Emily sleepily let her head fall on Paige's shoulder. She jerked it up immediately, feeling guilty for making Paige worry – and a little silly for crying over her childhood dog in the first place. "Hey – I know you need to get some sleep," she whispered, " 'cause you've got to get to work in the morning."

Paige put Emily's head back on her shoulder. "I'll stay with you until you fall back asleep."

"Thank you," Emily said softly. She pulled the sheet back and lay down, smiling gratefully as Paige settled behind her. They lay in silence for a while before Emily said, "Paige?"

"Yeah?" Paige's breath brushed the back of Emily's neck as she said the word.

"You can stay… even after I fall asleep."

Paige nodded and kissed Emily's neck, squeezing her waist a little tighter for a second.

Emily had been joking before about wearing Paige's jumpsuit to bed. The stiff, rough cotton fabric was much too uncomfortable to sleep in. But something that provided full body coverage might have seemed a safer choice, had she known the way their sleeping arrangements would have ended up. When it came down to it, though, didn't feel awkward or inappropriate – to either of them – lying in bed with their bare legs intertwined. It felt natural.

Paige remembered some very lonely nights, not very long ago, that she had spent cuddling Shana in bed. As much as loved Shana, she was just a substitute. Paige never thought that she would get the real thing. _This is real_ , she thought to herself and gave Emily another kiss.

* * *

"Emily…" Paige's voice was serious, but her face was lit up like a child's. "I'm going to be late!"

Emily collapsed, sitting on the bed with a fake pout. "Are you sure you can't skip work today?" She knew that she was being greedy. She and Paige hadn't been apart in the past 36 hours. Still, she couldn't be blamed for wanting a little more time with her.

"I wish," Paige said with a sigh. "But my uncle's counting on me."

"I'll make it worth your while…" Emily said seductively, reaching up to squeeze Paige's butt.

Paige, surprised, let out a yelp. "Emily!"

"What?" Emily stood and put her arms around Paige again, this time, letting both hands come to rest inside the back pockets of Paige's jumpsuit. "Do you know how many times I've wanted to do that, when you were puttering around my house in that cute little blue suit?"

Paige gasped in mock shock. "Oh, my God, that's such a violation!"

"Well, why do you think people call the plumber in the first place? Haven't you ever seen a porno?"

Paige almost doubled over laughing at that statement. It was just about the last thing she ever expected to hear out of Emily's lips. She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Have _you_ ever seen a porno?"

"Yes!" Emily blurted out defensively, adding, softly and embarrassed (knowing she would lose any street cred for admitting it), "at my friend Hanna's bachelorette party."

"So, are you going to tell me you were intentionally breaking the plumbing in your house just to get me to come over?"

"No, of course not!" Emily asserted. "Although…" Paige tilted her head when Emily let the word hang there. Emily lowered her gaze and sheepishly played with Paige's collar. "Once I found out that you did electrical work after hours, I… sort of… researched how to break something electrical and make it look like an accident."

Paige chuckled and pulled Emily's head against her chest. "Great plan," she admitted. She rubbed Emily's back for a moment before kissing the top of her head. "I've really got to go," she said apologetically.

Emily sighed. "All right," she said. "I'll just hang out with Shana." Shana, hearing her name, came over, and Emily began petting her. "You'll never leave me, will you, Girl?" All of a sudden, Emily realized that she had just invited herself to stay over at Paige's apartment while Paige was at work. She looked up at Paige in a panic, but Paige was smiling. "I… If you don't mind, I mean," she said, focusing her attention on Shana again. "I just don't want to face reality yet, you know. I've got all those contracts to look over from the publisher when I get home."

Paige, as much as she liked the idea of Emily hanging out in her apartment, was still a little disappointed. She had been planning to offer Emily a ride home, and she really wanted to see Emily's face when her Mustang roared to life. Still, in the scheme of things, she really couldn't complain that a beautiful woman wanted to make herself at home in her apartment. There would be plenty of time for her to show off her car to Emily.

"You can stay here as long as you want," She said in her sexiest voice. "Whenever you want." Emily smiled up at her. "And, if you want," Paige said to relieve the tension by changing the subject, "I can get my uncle's lawyer to take a look over those contracts sometime? You know, just to make sure you're not getting taken advantage of."

"Oh, thanks!" Emily said sincerely. She didn't want to appear ungrateful. "Actually, I have a good friend from high school who's a lawyer and…"

Paige put her hands up. "Say no more! I'm glad you've got it covered. I just didn't want you to be in over your head."

Emily nodded. "No, I appreciate it."

"Okay," Paige said, leaning over to give Emily a kiss good-bye. "I really should get going."

"Bye," Emily said wistfully.

* * *

Emily found some food for Shana and some toast and coffee for herself. She watched a bit of TV and looked through some of the books on Paige's shelf. She and Shana played a bit.

Emily really didn't feel like going home. She really felt like texting Paige, to see how her day was going, but that seemed a bit too clingy. So, she decided to take Shana for a walk instead. That way, she could send Paige a picture, and it would be about Shana and the fact that she'd gone out, rather than about Emily and her neediness.

She got undressed, certain that Paige wouldn't mind if she took a shower and borrowed some clothes. Once she figured out how to work the shower and got under the spray, she let out a moan. The water felt so firm but soft; it was like a Swedish massage. Emily let out a chuckle when she realized: Of course, a plumber would have an amazing shower. She reached for the shampoo, which Paige must have bought in the bargain bin at a department store. They would definitely have to work on that. Emily didn't really need to wash her hair, so she put it back. Paige's body wash was acceptable, but not something Emily could've showered with every day.

Emily stepped out of the shower and into an oversized white towel that smelled like Paige – or, Emily realized – maybe she was the one who smelled like Paige. She really needed to brush her teeth, but using Paige's toothbrush seemed a bit too much. She took a quick look inside the medicine cabinet, somewhat relieved that she didn't find a spare toothbrush there. It was just easier to think that Paige didn't have a spare toothbrush for her overnight guests. There was some mouthwash in the cabinet, and Emily decided it would have to do.

She opened the bathroom door slowly and looked around, afraid that Mikey may have come over to take Shana out. Not seeing anyone, she dashed to the bedroom and set about trying to find something she could wear. Shana came in and followed Emily around. Emily scratched her between the ears. "What should I wear, girl?"

Emily found a jersey and a pair of shorts from Hallahan High School that fit her well enough, and were an appropriate match for the jogging shoes that she had worn on the walk from her house the day before. Shana, having picked up on what was going on, fetched her leash and carried it to Emily, shyly walking back and forth to her tennis ball, as if subtly suggesting to Emily that she wouldn't mind going to the park for a while, as long as they were going out. "Go get it, girl!" Emily said, much to Shana's delight.

As soon as Emily got out of the apartment and onto the sidewalk, she started to second-guess her decision to take Shana out. What if Shana ran off – or got hit by a car – or got into an altercation with another dog? She knew that she was being irrational. She'd never seen Shana misbehave. Then again, she'd never seen her without Paige before.

As if on cue, to stoke Emily's fears, Shana started to get very animated. Emily looked up and saw a man with a large dog (though not as big as Shana) walking towards them. The man's dog was also getting jittery. "Easy, Girl," Emily said, stroking Shana's neck. She contemplated crossing the street.

"Lightning," the man said to his as he got closer, "it's Shana!" He let go of the leash, and Lightning headed over to Shana. The two of them playfully pawed and nuzzled each other for a bit, their tails wagging behind them. The man got down to Shana's level and pet her for a while. "She's a good dog," he said, and, with a smile and a wave, he was gone. No introduction, no explanation; that was that. _Dog culture…_

They made it to the park and tossed the ball around for a while. When they took a break, Emily got her phone and took a picture of the two of them and sent it to Paige with the caption, "Hey – we're at the park."

When Paige saw the picture, she almost dropped her phone. To her, the caption might as well have read, "Hey – I'm wearing your clothes!" Her thighs suddenly clenched together. She texted back, "Beautiful."

She knew what she meant. Emily could interpret it any way that she chose to.

It wasn't until the walk home that Emily realized what she had forgotten. She didn't have a key or any way to get back into Paige's apartment. She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of that before she left. She didn't want to keep bugging Paige at work, but she had no choice.

"Hey," she texted, "Funny story… we're locked out of your apartment. :("

A few seconds later, Emily's phone rang. "Hey – you okay?"

Emily sighed. "Yeah, just feeling a little stupid."

Paige chuckled. "Yeah. I didn't even think about that when you sent me that picture. But are you guys going to be okay for a bit? I'm on the way to a job right now, and Mikey's at work, but…"

"No, we're fine. We can get some lunch, and just hang out in the park."

"Okay. Well, I can swing by and get you at lunchtime. I should be finished on this next call in about a half hour? So, see you in… 45 minutes?"

"Okay. But don't rush, Paige, seriously. You don't have to, just because I'm… a moron."

"No, I'll come get you," Paige said reassuringly. "I can't wait to see you again."

Emily smiled to herself at that. "I can't wait to see you, either."

* * *

Emily heard the rumble of an engine behind her as she and Shana waited for Paige on a bench near the entrance to the park. She turned around and saw Paige pulling up in her red Mustang. Paige lifted her aviators onto the top of her head and rolled down the window.

At that moment, Emily realized that Mikey was wrong. _Mouche_. Paige wasn't the fly. She was Batgirl.

Emily leaned over and poked her head in the window, trying to keep Shana settled. "I thought you'd be in the truck," she said, slightly loud, to be heard above the idling engine.

Paige chuckled. "I don't take it everywhere, you know"

"Is it okay for Shana to get in your car?" Emily scrunched her face apologetically. She was really making a mess of things.

"Are you kidding?" Paige stretched across the seat to open the door, and Shana jumped in, wriggling her way into the backseat. Paige reached back and scratched between her ears. "She's my ride or die bitch," she said on autopilot, repeating the phrase she had gotten used to telling people. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she cringed. She hated sounding like a crude plumber in front of a lady like Emily. "I… I mean… you know." Paige chuckled nervously. "'Bitch' as in 'female dog.'"

"Yeah, I had heard that term," Emily said sarcastically, with a smile, before she climbed in the car and gave Paige a kiss. "I'm just surprised she doesn't ride shotgun!"

"Well, she usually does," Paige admitted, "but she knows you're special." She put her hand on Emily's thigh but removed it immediately. Skin on skin contact was one thing the night before, when she was there for Emily. But, in the cold light of day, with hormones at play, it didn't feel quite as appropriate.

When Emily was buckled in, Paige gunned the engine for effect before she put it in gear and pulled off. Emily would have rolled her eyes at that, had it been anyone else but Paige.

Paige, feeling Emily's eyes on her, looked away from traffic for a second and saw Emily staring with a big smile on her face. "What's so funny?"

Emily tilted her head in the direction of Paige's phone, in its cradle on the dashboard. Paige had already changed her phone's background to the picture that Emily had taken with Shana earlier in the day. "Nice picture," Emily said coyly.

"I thought so." Paige looked over again, with a smile of her own. "I'm glad you found something to wear."

"I hope you don't mind?"

"Are you kidding?" Paige looked Emily over and gave her a thumbs up.

Emily placed her hand on Paige's leg as she drove, and Paige put her hand on top of it, intertwining their fingers. "How long do you have for lunch?"

"A while. My next call is at two, so…"

"Oh, good." Emily lifted a paper bag that she'd been holding in her lap. "I picked up some cold cuts. I figured I could make you a quick lunch."

"You guys haven't eaten yet?"

Emily shook her head. "We wanted to eat with you."

"Aww… That's so thoughtful."

"… and a little bit greedy," Emily said. "I know we got to spend the whole weekend together, but… I wanted more." Emily's voice got softer; less self-assured as she finished the sentence.

Paige turned to Emily and smiled. "You read my mind." She gave Emily's hand a squeeze before she returned her hand to the steering wheel for a moment, to make a turn.

Emily, her face was a mixture of jubilation and relief, lifted Paige's hand to her lips and kissed it.

* * *

Back at the apartment, Paige took a few minutes to play with Shana before she set out some food in her doggie dish. Emily, meanwhile, busied herself in the kitchen. "I'm not really sure what you like," she said, when Paige came in to wash her hands.

"Oh, I like everything," she said reassuringly.

"Like kale?" Emily asked with a wink.

"Yeah, like kale." Paige dipped her head.

"So, basically, you're going to pretend that you like whatever I make?"

"That's the plan," Paige said coyly. "At least for the first couple of months." She wrapped her arms around Emily from behind and pressed her cheek against Emily's. "No, seriously, I'm not very picky." Emily quirked an eyebrow. "Except when it comes to women, of course," Paige added quickly.

"Well, you probably need to get going, don't you?" Paige nodded reluctantly. "Don't worry about this," Emily said, starting to clear their lunch. "Go. I'll clean up before I head home."

"No, just leave it," Paige insisted. "I have time to take you home."

"Paige," Emily said with a smile, "You don't want to come home to dishes in the sink, do you?"

Paige laughed at that. "I think I can manage." She took the dishes from Emily's hand and put them in the sink. "Come on. I don't want you walking home by yourself."

Emily liked the thought of Paige dropping her off at her house, waiting to make sure that she made it in the house safely, and then waving good-bye before she gunned the engine and headed back to work. "Okay," she conceded. "I just need to get changed."

"Don't bother," Paige said casually. "I can get my clothes back from you sometime."

Emily smiled to herself and gave Paige a kiss, holding her hand underneath Paige's chin. She was pretty sure that Paige wasn't going to get those clothes back. And she was pretty sure that Paige would be just fine with that.

* * *

Paige gave Emily a kiss before she got out of the car. Even though it was uncomfortable leaning across the center console, they weren't in a rush to end the kiss – or their time together.

Emily found herself wishing that one of her neighbors would walk by and see her in that car, with that girl, their lips locked. She could have stayed there forever, but Paige's phone interrupted them.

Paige groaned. She knew without looking that it was Uncle John, confirming the 2:00 appointment.

"I need to let you get going," Emily said with a pout.

Paige nodded. "Can I stop by after work?" Her face was angelic. "I'll bring dinner."

Emily's head told her that she needed to slow things down. She didn't have to spend every evening with Paige. And, if nothing else, she should do the polite thing and tell Paige that she didn't have to bring food. But her heart made the more persuasive argument.

"Okay."

"Should I bring Shana?"

Emily nodded, leaning over the console to kiss Paige again. As she made a quick exit from the car, she added, "And your toothbrush."

Emily took her time walking from Paige's car to her front door, certain that she had Paige's full attention. After she retrieved her keys from her handbag, she turned to wave at Paige, who waved back and gunned the engine, just as it had gone down in Emily's imagination.

* * *

Once inside the house, Emily called Spencer and postponed their plans to meet that night and go over Emily's contracts. Spencer was annoyed. "Emily, I know you're trying to put off adulthood for as long as you can, but you need to get this taken care of."

Emily sighed impatiently. It wasn't the first time that Spencer had condescendingly given her the "adult" lecture. Part of it, Emily realized, was that Spencer never really considered writing a legitimate career alternative. "Writing's fine as a hobby," Spencer loved to tell her, "but let's face it: Your last name is Fields, not Brontë." And then, as if Emily, a comp lit major, didn't get the reference, Spencer spelled it out. "Emily Brontë, yes. Emily Fields, no."

"Spencer," Emily whined, "Paige is coming over tonight, and…"

"She's coming over again?" Spencer was suddenly very excited. She and their friends had been dying for Emily to find someone ever since she moved away from her home and family in Rosewood.

"Yeah," Emily said, slightly embarrassed, but glad that she was, apparently, off the hook. "She's coming over again."

"Well, when's she coming?"

"I don't know. She said after work."

Spencer looked at the clock. "Okay. I can duck out of here right now. It'll only take a couple of hours to go through those contracts. I'll be gone before Paige knows I was there."

* * *

Long after Spencer had gone over all of the documents, explained all the jargon to Emily, and assured her that it was a good deal, she was still milling around the house. It was obvious that she was in no hurry to leave. And it was obvious why: She wanted to be there when Paige came over, to give her the once-over and the Hastings seal of approval. Emily understood that, and she wouldn't have minded ordinarily. But she couldn't help thinking about the last thing that she had said to Paige before Paige headed back to work. Emily wasn't keen to have Spencer see Paige show up there with her overnight bag. She didn't need the rumors that would inevitably follow; plus, she didn't want Paige to feel embarrassed. But Spencer had done her a huge favor in helping her go through the contracts. She didn't want to give her the bum's rush.

Emily sighed resignedly when she heard the unmistakable hum of Paige's engine out in front of her house. Spencer broke into a smile – as excited to see Paige as Emily normally would have been – once she caught on that it was Paige's car that had pulled up. She positioned herself in the window seat and subtly pulled back the curtain.

Emily opened the door and stood fidgeting with her hands. She saw Paige open the back door to let Shana out and close the door behind her. When she didn't open the trunk to retrieve the food or her suitcase, Emily thought that their plans must've changed.

"Hi," she said, drawing out the word as she gave Paige a hug, which she followed with a kiss as they separated.

Spencer, who had quickly gathered her things, met them in the doorway, behaving much like a thirteen-year-old girl who had just found out about her best friend's secret girlfriend.

"Hi," she said, extending her hand to Paige with her biggest possible smile. "I'm Spencer Hastings. You must be Paige McCullers." When Shana stepped up to introduce herself, Spencer reached down to pet her. "And you must be Shana…" Before Paige could get out a "Pleased to meet you," Spencer moved on to "Well, I was just leaving," and cooed excitedly into Emily's ear as she hugged her good-bye.

"So, that was Spencer," Emily said, somewhat overwhelmed.

"Hi, Spencer," Paige teased with a smile and a wave, though Spencer had already floated off to her car and buckled in, undoubtedly eager to share the news with the rest of the gang.

"Apparently, she had places to go," Emily noted philosophically.

"Sorry," Paige said. "I didn't mean to rush her out."

"Oh, no," Emily replied quickly. "We were finished long ago. I think she was just hanging around because she wanted to meet you."

"Okay."

Emily suddenly realized that they were still awkwardly standing in the doorway. "Well, listen, come on in," she invited.

"Oh. Okay." Paige looked over her shoulder and, seeing Spencer pull away, she gestured towards her car. "I just need to get the rest of my stuff out of the car."

"Okay. I was wondering if the plans had changed."

Paige smiled shyly. "Well, when I saw a car in front of your house with a 'Rosewood Estates' parking tag, I thought it might be better to wait on that."

Emily put her hand on Paige's shoulder and thanked her with a kiss. "Good decision!"

Emily followed Paige and Shana out to the car. Paige opened the trunk and handed Emily a small overnight bag, taking the cardboard box from the trunk herself. "Is it okay to leave the car there?"

"Oh yeah," Emily assured her. "The neighbors are pretty alert. They keep an eye on everything that goes on around the block."

"That's what I meant," Paige explained, as the car beeped to signify that it was locked. "I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable situation if they see that my car's still here in the morning."

"They're pretty alert," Emily repeated with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure they all know that you spent the night here Friday."

* * *

Emily was interested in what it was that Paige had brought for dinner. She had expected take-out, but the box made it look as if Paige had cooked.

"It's nothing fancy," Paige told her. "Just some soup, bread, and a salad. You know, something that could travel well."

"And something vegetarian, because you've never seen me eat meat," Emily deduced.

Paige shrugged. "I used my grandma's recipes. My aunt – my Uncle John's sister – passed them down to me. They didn't have a lot growing up, so my grandma learned to do most of her cooking without meat."

Emily rubbed Paige's shoulder and kissed her cheek. She really did appreciate Paige's thoughtfulness.

"So, you and your aunt were close, too?" Emily asked, as they ate in front of TV in the living room.

Paige nodded. "Until she moved to Florida."

"So… your dad was the only one who didn't…" Emily pushed the words out haltingly, not sure how comfortable Paige was talking about it. "… who wasn't…."

"Exactly," Paige replied, adding, "Evidently, he's always been kind of the…" She exhaled deeply, unable to come up with a better word. "...asshole of the family." Emily, looking sad, hugged her. "But, you know. He's still my Dad."

Emily scooted closer to Paige, putting one leg up on the couch. She rubbed Paige's stomach sympathetically. Paige, remorseful at having put a downer on the evening, changed the subject. Pointing to the TV, she said, "I can fix that, you know."

"Fix what?" Emily asked, looking in the direction where Paige was pointing.

"That hazy spot, in the corner of the TV?"

"Oh, yeah," Emily replied, waving it off. "It's an old TV. I've had it since college."

"Yeah, but it's not the TV. It's the signal. The cable probably just needs to be grounded."

"Oh." Emily wasn't quite sure what that meant. "So, I don't need a new TV?"

"Probably not." Paige stood up and headed for the TV.

"Don't worry about it, Paige!"

"I'm not worried," Paige joked. "It'll take ten minutes."

"Well, do you have to do it tonight?" Emily groaned.

Paige stopped and turned around. "Why? Was there something else that you wanted to do tonight?" she smirked.

Emily pulled her forcefully back onto the and straddled her, pressing her shoulders against the cushions. "Don't pretend you don't know."

* * *

 **A/N - So, I totally stole the "batgirl" line from lifelongloveforlindsey's review... :)**

 **I'm going to start publishing my multi-chapter next week, so I don't know when I'll update this story again. But I will finish it - I promise!**


	5. Fast Car

Emily lay facing Paige in bed, running her finger along the tattoo that she'd discovered on Paige's shoulder the night before. It was a hashtag, all done in black or deep blue. It was hard to tell in the dim, early morning light. It was just a hashtag, with no words next to it. There was probably a story behind it, but Emily was content just to trace its lines; down the left line, down the right, across the upper, and across, the lower. When she finished, she traced out a game of tic tac toe, forming both the exes and ohs, drawing a diagonal line at the end through the three exes in a row.

Paige was studying her face the entire time, trying to discern what was happening in her head. Emily didn't look sad, but her expression was serious. There was a slight crease between her eyebrows. Paige didn't know what to make of it.

"You okay?" she husked softly

Emily sighed and nodded, tracing the hashtag with her finger again, her eyes on her finger rather than on Paige.

Paige sat up slightly, covering herself with the sheet the way women do in TV shows that aren't allowed to show the naked female chest. "I know that things are moving way too fast, and if you're having any regrets about what we did… I mean, I understand." Paige's face was pure adoration and concern. She brushed the hair away from Emily's face and lowered her head, trying to find Emily's eyes. "But let's talk about it."

"No," Emily said softly. "I don't think it was too fast." When Paige furrowed her brow wondering what was the matter, Emily let out a deep breath and spoke barely above a whisper. "I just don't want you to think that I'm... the kind of girl who just… jumps into bed with someone, just like that. Paige, I…"

Paige caressed Emily's cheek. "I know that, Emily," she said, nodding slightly. "I'm not, either. It's different with you. There's just…"

"A connection," Emily interrupted. She leaned down to kiss Paige. "I feel it, too."

"I meant what I said, when I told you I love you."

Emily nodded. "I know." She touched her index finger to Paige's nose. "I love you, too."

Paige put her arm behind Emily's neck and pulled her in for a tight hug. It was what Emily needed. Paige held her there for a while. When she backed away, she started playing with strands of Emily's hair. "So, that's what woke you up so early?"

Emily chuckled, her mouth closed. "No," she said, somewhat embarrassed at what she was about to admit. "I wanted to make you a good breakfast before you leave for work. I even bought bacon and potatoes and eggs yesterday!"

Paige smiled at that. "That sounds wonderful," she said stroking her hand through Emily's hair again. "But my first appointment's not till ten." She made some space between herself and the sheet and tugged at Emily, pulling her closer. "Let's just lie here for a little while longer."

Emily nodded her head in agreement. She smiled for a while, staring at Paige in adoration. Paige smiled shyly under the attention. "What?" she asked after a moment.

"You really took care of my pipes last night, didn't you?"

Paige face-palmed in embarrassment that Emily had actually used that line. "I get the feeling you've been planning that joke for a while."

Emily nodded, moving her fingers slowly up and down in the space between Paige's breasts. "Ever since the first time you came to look at that leak in my bathroom." Paige blinked her eyes in surprise. "You were so … confident and… in charge…" Emily gestured with her arms, trying to project the confident swagger she'd seen and loved in Paige. She shivered a little at the recollection.

"Well actually," Paige admitted, "I was sweating bullets." She moved her hand down to Emily's back and shoulders.

"Really?" Paige shrugged her shoulders. "Why?"

Paige laughed. "I was I this beautiful house, with the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life… I was so nervous I could hardly speak."

Emily smiled, remembering that first visit. "I remember." She was still idly moving her hand up and down in the valley between Paige's breasts. "I thought you were just the strong, silent type." Emily gave Paige a kiss and touched her lips, pulling the lower lip down slightly. "But you warmed up after that first visit."

Paige nodded. "You turned out to be so sweet and friendly. I couldn't believe that you were as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside."

"Aww…"

"I kept talking, because I kept expecting you to tell me about your boyfriend, or something. You know, I wanted an excuse not to get my hopes up."

"And here I was, dropping hints that I was single. Trying to get you to ask me out." Emily looked away, embarrassed.

Paige gave Emily a kiss. "So, I guess, maybe, this wasn't so fast after all? I guess this has been building for quite some time."

Emily nodded and turned around, backing up against the warmness that Paige provided. She relaxed for a moment in Paige's arms before she twisted herself up, reaching behind Paige for her phone, to set her alarm to wake her in time to get started on breakfast.

* * *

"Hey, Em!" Spencer's voice on the phone was cheery. Before Emily could return her greeting, she asked, "So, is Paige still there?"

"A…" Emily stuttered out a nonsense syllable as she tried to catch her bearings. "Why would Paige still be here?"

"So, you're saying she didn't spend the night?"

"Spencer, don't you think it's a little soon for her to be spending the night with me?"

"Then… that wasn't her car in front of your house at 7:15 this morning?"

Emily gasped. "Spencer! I can't believe you drove by my house on your way to work just to check whether Paige's car was still there!"

"Aha!" Spencer yelled triumphantly. She started laughing. "Emily, my God, you fell for the oldest trick in the book!"

"What?" Emily was confused.

"No, I didn't drive by your house. But I got you to admit that Paige's car was still there!"

"Spencer…" Emily's voice was exasperated and desperate.

"What? I think it's great?"

Emily was surprised to hear that. "You don't think it's too soon?"

"Oh, please, Emily! I know you. I know you wouldn't give yourself away if it were too soon."

Emily's sigh was equal parts relief and contentment. She dropped down into a sitting position on the couch. "It was… just… perfect, Spencer. She's just so… caring and giving and she loves me, and…"

"Okay, okay!" Spencer said quickly. "I'm at the office; I don't need a play-by-play!"

Emily giggled. "Sorry."

"So, is she still there?"

"No. I dropped her off at work about a half hour ago."

"She let you drive her car?" Emily couldn't see how wide Spencer's eyes became.

"Yeah," Emily said nonchalantly. "I mentioned that I needed to pick some things up in town today, and she said, 'Why don't you take my car?'"

"But, Em, she barely even knows you!"

"Wait – you don't think it's too soon for me to sleep with her, but you think it's too soon for me to drive her car?"

"Yes!" Spencer practically screamed. "I mean, have you seen her car?"

"I dropped her off at work this morning!"

"So you know how pristine she keeps it."

"And?"

"And, just be careful! You know, it's got a lot more power than your old car."

"I know that!" Emily said, annoyed. "I dropped her off at work this morning!"

"You _really_ drove it?"

"What did you think, I was making this up?"

"So, you got to see where she works?"

"Yeah," Emily said dreamily, smiling at the memory. "She invited me inside to meet her uncle. She said he always wanted to meet their best customer."

Spencer sensed there was more. "And?"

"He said he understood why Paige always volunteered to take the job whenever I called." Emily laughed, in a high-pitched, excited squeal. It had been great to hear, and it was great to be able to relive the moment with Spencer. But Emily left out the part about the way that Paige put her arm around her back as she was leaving and kissed her casually, as if it their regular thing; that they'd been doing it all their lives. That part really felt great.

"So, when are we going to meet her?" Spencer asked. "You can't hog her all to yourself!"

"Well…" Emily drew out the word. "I was thinking about inviting her back to Rosewood this week?" Emily was counting on Spencer to let her know whether or not it was a good idea.

"To meet your parents?"

"Yeah, and all of you guys."

"Okay," Spencer said with a shrug.

"You don't think it's too much?"

"Well, see what Paige says. It'll be a good indication of whether or not she's serious about the two of you."

Emily sighed. "Maybe. I mean, maybe she has to work. Or maybe… You know, she spent all of last weekend with me. Maybe she wants a break from me."

"Oh, give me a break, Emily!" Spencer scoffed lightly. "Look, she's spent, what? -two minutes away from you since Friday? She obviously wants to spend time with you." Emily was silent. "Look, Em," Spencer said in a calming voice. "Just don't put too much pressure on it, okay? Ask her low key, and if she says yeah, that's great. And if she says no, don't worry about it. It doesn't mean she doesn't want to be with you." Spencer took a breath. "Because she clearly does."

* * *

Shana got excited when Emily's car pulled up to Paige's uncle's house, from which he ran his home business. Emily thought it best to let her out of the car, for fear she might destroy the upholstery, bouncing around with all of her aniticipatory energy. Once Emily let her out, Shana bolted for the front door of the house, but stopped, reluctantly, when Emily yelled out her name. She turned around and returned to Emily, looking up at her with her tail wagging wildly as if to ask, "How long will it be?"

When the door opened and Paige emerged, smiling at the site of her two favorite females, Shana angled her body towards Paige and looked back at Emily, begging for permission. "Go ahead," Emily said cheerfully, and Shana ran off to greet her. Paige kept walking towards Emily, patting Shana on the side as she did.

"How did you guys make out today?"

Emily thought for a second before she answered. "Good. Today was good!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. How about you?"

"Not bad."

Once they got situated in the car, Paige took a quick check of her face and hair in the rearview mirror before she pulled out. "Heading to your place?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah." Emily's tone was upbeat. "You can drop me off."

Paige turned to Emily, looking confused, but focused on the road again. Emily fidgeted with her hands in her lap. A second or two later, Paige asked, in a light tone, "So, was it something I said?"

"What do you mean?"

Paige shook her head. "Nothing – sorry." She ran her fingers through her hair and exhaled. With a nervous smile, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I guess I just got used to us hanging out together, you know."

"Oh, Paige, I would love to hang out with you tonight." Emily put her hand on Paige's leg. "I just didn't want to assume… I wasn't sure you wanted to spend so much time with me."

Paige smiled at Emily, rolling her eyes at how foolish that statement was. "I _love_ spending time with you."

Emily giggled nervously and looked out of the window. "Speaking of that…"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was thinking of going back to Rosewood this weekend…"

"Oh, okay." Paige tried not to sound to disappointed. She knew that she wouldn't get to spend every weekend of her life with Emily.

Emily took her hand from Paige's lap and nervously ran her fingers through her hair, still looking away. "You could come with me… if you wanted… I mean, I know you're busy."

"Okay," Paige said with an easygoing smile.

"You're sure?" Emily was still having a hard time looking at Paige. It helped that Paige was focused on the road and not looking directly at her.

"Sure." Paige turned towards her with a smile. "I'd love to spend the weekend in Rosewood with you."

"Yeah, but…" Emily smiled nervously. "It's not just with me… It's…" Emily sighed.

"It's meeting the family?" Emily nodded, biting her lip. Paige turned and smiled again. "I would love to meet your family."

"Really?" Emily squealed out of delight and surprise. After taking a moment to compose herself, she said, "Thank you," softly.

"Thank _you,_ " Paige replied, "for taking me to meet your family."

"So." Emily sounded more relaxed. "Do you mind if we hang out at my house again tonight?"

Paige turned towards Emily and nodded. "I didn't get you in trouble with your neighbors, did I?"

"No." Emily smiled shyly and lowered her head. "Not with my _neighbors._ "

"Uh oh." Paige squeezed Emily's thigh. "What happened?"

Emily laughed lightly. "My friend, Spencer. She kind of tricked me." Paige gave her a puzzled look. "She pretended she'd seen your car this morning, and I ended up admitting you spent the night."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I'm not ashamed of last night." Emily squeezed Paige's hand. "I just kind of wanted it to be our thing for a little while, you know? I wanted to be able to celebrate it, just the two of us, before we let everybody else in on it."

Paige nodded. "Is she going to tell everybody?"

Emily shook her head. "I don't think so. She knows I want to be the one to tell people." Emily turned Paige's hand over and played with it a little. "I want to brag about you."

"I feel the same," Paige told her. "Although, in my case, it's not as if I'm going to go bragging to Mikey and my Uncle John."

Emily laughed. "Yeah, I don't really see that happening."

* * *

"Do I have time to take a shower?" Paige asked as she hung up her tool belt.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure!" Emily stepped in close and put her arms around Paige's neck. "I love your shower, by the way."

Paige smirked. "You can join me, if you want."

Emily gave her a kiss as she slowly unzipped her jumpsuit. "I thought you'd never ask."

Paige lifted her arms and let the suit fall to the floor. "I can't believe that worked!"

After a hot, steamy shower, they ended up on Paige's bed. They didn't bother to get dressed as they lay next to each other, caressing each other gently.

"Maybe we should stay here tonight," Emily said through a yawn.

"Okay. Do you need to go back and pick up some clothes?"

Emily smiled mischievously, patting Paige on the chest. "I'll just steal something of yours."

Paige took her hand and kissed it. "Well, what you have on now is perfectly fine."

* * *

Paige noticed the smile on Emily's face as they lay in silence. "What are you thinking?"

Emily's smile grew shy. "Okay, don't get weirded out, but…" Emily crossed her hands on her stomach, intertwining her fingers. She laughed nervously, not sure how to say what she was thinking, or even whether she should. "Well," she said at last, "I was just thinking… about you coming home after work in your blue jumpsuit, and me greeting you with a kiss and helping you out of it, and then just chilling before dinner." Emily covered her face to hide her embarrassment. "I don't know!"

Paige turned onto her side, drawing closer to Emily. She gently moved Emily's hands away from her face, so that Emily could see the smile on hers. As she kissed her, she swept her leg across Emily's body. By the end of the kiss, she was fully on top of Emily, holding Emily's hands down against the pillow. All of a sudden, her stomach rumbled.

"Speaking of dinner," Emily said, rubbing Paige's stomach. "You must be starving."

Paige leaned down, putting her weight on top of Emily. "Well actually," she said slyly, "I'm thirsty." Her kisses moved from Emily's lips to her neck and down to her navel. "So, so thirsty."

* * *

 **A/N - Hey, guys... I hate that this has become _that_ story... the one where most of the comments are "Please continue..." Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time keeping up with both this story and my multi-chapter. (This story's just a one-shot, remember? :D)**

 **So, I think I'm going to have to set this one aside till the end of the month, but I promise I'll be back next month to give it a proper ending. Thanks for reading - and I hope you'll come back in December to see how it ends.**


	6. Are you nervous?

"Are you nervous?"

"No…" Emily drew out the word as she said it, with a hint of anticipatory excitement in her voice as she sat curled up on the couch with her chin resting on her knee. She was cradling the phone between her ear and her shoulder, lightly rubbing her hand up and down her shin as she spoke to her best friend. Her other hand was latched onto her foot, and, looking down, she made a mental note to do something about her nails before morning. "I know they're going to love her," she said into the phone. "I guess I'm more excited than anything else, you know? Like, I wish tomorrow would hurry up and get here."

"Where is she now? I mean, you guys have basically moved in together, right?"

"No, we haven't basically moved in together," Emily said, exasperated– even though she and Paige had spent every night together since their first date.

"So, why isn't she with you now?"

"She is…" Emily protested defensively, sitting up a little bit straighter. "I'm at Paige's apartment." Emily gestured with her hand, as if she were stating the obvious, although, of course, Hanna had no way of knowing where she was. "She's just… in the other room." Emily cleared her throat and added, softly, "She's… sleeping." She wasn't sure why she felt so weird about telling Hanna that.

"You wore her out, eh?" Hanna teased.

"Shut up," Emily laughed, letting her body fall against the arm of the couch. Even though Hanna knew that she and Paige had slept together, Emily was still embarrassed by Hanna's insinuation. "She had to go out on a ton of calls at work today, and she was exhausted when she got home. So, I made her dinner and told her I would take Shana out for her walk. By the time we got home, she was fast asleep on the couch. I got her off to bed and lay down next to her for a while, trying to sleep, but I was too keyed up, so I called you."

"Wow… Okay, you guys are moving way too fast."

"We…" Emily looked at the phone, puzzled. "No, we're not," she said, once again defensive. "What are you talking about, Hanna?"

"You've already gone from red-hot lovers to lesbian bed-death. I mean, come on!"

Emily shook her head. "It's not lesbian…" She groaned impatiently. She knew that she shouldn't let Hanna's teasing get to her. Ordinarily, it wouldn't have, but she was actually more nervous about the weekend than she was admitting to herself, and, as a result, she was on-edge. "It's not _that,"_ she said, trying to keep her cool. We don't have to sleep with each other every night." Emily smiled to herself at the thought. "I kind of like just falling to sleep next to her, with her holding me. And I like... feeling her heartbeat against my back. It's – I don't know – it's comfortable."

"Oh, God," Hanna lamented. "I was just kidding before, but you guys seriously _are_ moving way too fast. You're already at that comfortable, old-married stage…"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Okay, I don't know why I even talk to you, Hanna," she said through a laugh. She enjoyed the fact that she and Paige had that married-couple vibe, but she wasn't going to let Hanna know that.

"I mean, sex is just sex," Hanna continued. "That doesn't mean anything. But when you go and cuddle in bed with her to help her fall asleep, that's some serious shit, girlfriend!"

Emily laughed, a bit more relaxed. "Well," she said playfully, "It _is_ serious. We are serious. And besides, it's better than hugging my teddy bear all night long." Those days hadn't been so long ago, but they were already fading from Emily's memory.

"Yeah, that's for sure," Hanna agreed with a chuckle. "I'm happy for you, Em. I really am. We all are."

Emily didn't say anything. She just let out a kind of muted squeal into the phone.

"So, you took that giant horse-dog of hers out for a walk?" Hanna asked, abruptly shifting gears. "And you had to pick up his poopies?"

" _Her_ poopies. And, yeah, I know. Gross, right? That's the part of Philly that sucks – we can't just let her go out in the back yard."

"Right? Plus, as huge as she is, I bet she dragged you all up and down the street like a little rag doll."

"Noooo," Emily insisted, defending Shana's honor. "She's sooo gentle and well-behaved, Hanna. I mean, she's a really powerful dog; she could easily drag me up and down the streets. But she's totally sweet and loving. But, I know what you mean. People's eyes always go wide when they see me with her – like, 'Are you sure you can handle that animal?' And I just give them a smile, like, 'Yep, she's my dog!' "

"Okay," Hanna yelled impatiently, "Are you sure we're still talking about Shana, or have we switched to talking about your girlfriend now?

"Oh, shut up, Hanna!" Emily said through a laugh. She didn't want to admit it, but what Hanna had said was spot-on. Paige was pretty powerful, but she wouldn't hurt a fly, except to protect Emily. And Emily definitely got that same kind of vibe from people when she was walking with Paige as she did when she was walking Shana. All eyes were on her, as if they couldn't believe that the two of them were together. And she often gave them that same sly smile, acknowledging that Paige was hers. It wasn't a possessive thing, but more a sense of pride. "Paige is not my dog!" Emily exclaimed with finality. At the same time, though, she had started to realize that Paige was like a dog: Loyal, protective, fearless. She would lay down her life for Emily, and Emily would do the same for her.

Emily realized that Hanna was right about another thing: They were moving fast. Well, Hanna was half right. It wasn't too fast. There's no timetable for falling in love. It can happen over the course of a lifetime, or it can happen in an instant. True love, however fast or slow, happens right on time.

"Emily?" Paige stumbled into the room, her eyes half-closed.

Emily put her hand over the phone. "Hey, Paige."

"You okay?" Paige mumbled. "I heard voices."

Emily nodded her head. "I'm just talking to Hanna. Go back to bed."

Paige nodded and turned around, almost stumbling into the wall on her way out.

"Paige?" Emily called behind her. Paige turned around, struggling to keep her eyes open. Emily motioned for her to come over. When she got close, Emily extended her arm and Paige leaned down and gave her a kiss. "I love you," Emily whispered, and Paige mumbled back something that sounded like "I love you, too." Emily rubbed her back and urged her to get some sleep. Paige nodded and trundled back to the bedroom. Emily smiled as she watched her go. She couldn't help remembering the times when Shana had done the same thing – shuffled into the room after hearing a noise - not really wanting to wake up, but wanting to ensure that the two of them were okay.

"Oh, you guys are just too cute!"

Hanna's pronouncement jolted Emily out of her reverie, reminding her that her private moment with Paige wasn't so private after all. "Listen," she said, trying her hardest not to sound in a hurry, "I should probably go, now."

Hanna laughed knowingly. "Yeah, you probably should!"

* * *

"Are you nervous?" Paige looked over at Emily with a concerned frown.

Emily sighed pleasantly. "Why does everybody keep asking me that?"

Paige took her hand off of the steering wheel and patted Emily's thigh comfortingly. "You just seem a little quiet," she observed. "And I know that this weekend is a big deal."

Emily squeezed Paige's hand, not letting her put it back on the steering wheel. "I'm not nervous about you meeting my family," she said honestly.

Emily was, however, a little nervous about the drive. It was their first road trip, and, even though it was only a little over an hour to Rosewood, she didn't know how the drive would go. For some reason, things can be different in the closed environment of the car. It would be just the two of them and the radio. They could get stuck in traffic and become impatient. Emily hadn't really seen how Paige behaved behind the wheel. She and Paige were still in that honeymoon period, where they didn't expose the worst of themselves to the other person. This weekend would mark a turning point. It was kind of a big deal.

Emily did have to admit to herself that she was a little nervous. But there was no need to worry Paige with that. Paige had enough on her mind. It had to be intimidating for her, to be on Emily's home turf, with all of Emily's friends, and with Emily's parents. "Are _you_ nervous?" she asked softly, hoping not to offend Paige with the question.

Paige turned to look at Emily, and her usual kick-ass boldness melted into a shy smile. "A little, I guess." She shrugged her shoulders as she turned her attention back to the road.

Emily clutched her hand a little tighter. "My parents are going to _love_ you," she assured her, adding, "My Mom already does."

Paige chuckled but didn't say anything. She took her hand away to make a turn, returning it to Emily's lap when the turn was complete.

"They know that we've slept together," Emily announced. She was fiddling with Paige's fingers, the way that she often did when she was nervous.

"Okay." Paige nodded her head. She was relieved to know that she wouldn't have to try to hide anything from Emily's parents. Still, she could tell by the way that Emily was behaving that there as more to the story.

"But they want you to sleep in the guest room." Emily bit her lip when she turned her head towards Paige, hoping that Paige wouldn't get upset.

"Okay," Paige repeated, shrugging her right shoulder to let Emily know that it wasn't a big deal to her.

"I mean, that doesn't mean that they don't approve of you." Emily stuttered for a moment as she quickly corrected herself. "Of _us_. Of what we did." She let out a quick breath. "It's just… They're just…"

Paige smiled at her. "Emily, I don't have any problem with the fact that your parents want me to sleep in the guest room."

"You don't?" Emily laughed nervously.

Paige slid her thumb and middle finger through her hair, pulling it back out of her face, before she returned it to Emily's lap. She mouthed the word, "No." When Emily didn't say anything, Paige asked, "Do you have a problem with it?"

"No," Emily said quickly. "It's just the way they are. It's nothing against you." Emily cleared her throat and corrected herself again. " _Us._ "

"I get it," Paige said, squeezing Emily's thigh. "It's their house." As long as Emily and Wayne didn't try control their sleeping arrangements in Emily's house or Paige's apartment, Paige could go along with their rules.

* * *

A smile lit up Emily's face as Paige made the last turn and pulled up to her house. She was excited to see her parents again, of course; especially her father, who was still on duty in Texas. But she was more excited for them to get to meet Paige. It felt as if she'd been waiting for this moment for so long, even though she and Paige had only been together for a week.

"There she is!" Wayne exclaimed enthusiastically as Paige pulled up. He looked over at his wife and squeezed her from the side. "Wow. You could tell she was beautiful on Instagram, but those pictures didn't do her justice!" Wayne trotted over to the car, leaning down and looking to look at Paige in the driver's seat. Paige smiled nervously and pulled the lever to release the hood. Wayne bounced over and raised the hood, using a rag that he pulled out of his back pocket rather than getting his fingerprints on the paint.

Emily had warned Paige that her father would probably be so excited about her car that he would forget his manners. Before she knew what was going on, Paige and Wayne were leaning into the hood pointing at things and talking about them in a language that she barely understood.

"She really is a beaut," Wayne gushed as he and Paige backed away from the car. "Boy, I wonder how she would've matched up against my '69 Camaro."

"Classic muscle car," Paige said with a nod. She wasn't going to get into the Camaro vs. Mustang debate with Emily's father. She only had one shot at a good first impression with him. "How many miles did you have on it?"

Wayne looked up at the sky in frustration. "Too few," he lamented. "Ah, you know how it is," he explained, tilting his head in the direction of the porch, where Pam was watching. "It wasn't a 'family car.'" He shook his head with a rueful smile. "Oh well." He threw his hands up in resignation. "She was right." Putting his arm on Paige's shoulder, he leaned in close. "But, don't worry. I raised my Emmy better than that!"

Paige smiled and nodded agreeably, but she knew full well that she'd give up her car in a heartbeat, if Emily asked her too. And she knew that, as much as Wayne missed his Camaro, given the same choice, he would make the same decision every time.

"Do you keep her in a garage?" Wayne asked as he closed the hood and headed to the trunk, to help Paige with the bags.

"Oh, you can't keep a car like this caged up, Wayne!" Paige teased. "She was born to roam free!"

"You mean you like to show her off," Wayne said, with a wink.

Paige shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head, in a "Guilty as charged" posture. "I can keep her in my cousin's garage if there's bad weather coming," she added in a more serious tone. "But, for the most part, I just park on the street."

"Well, let me ask you this," Wayne said, pausing before they got to the front door, where they would be interrupted by Emily, who was impatiently waiting to introduce Paige to an equally impatient Pam. Wayne's voice dropped to an urgent whisper. "Don't you worry about her, out there on the street in Philly? I mean, anything could happen."

Paige realized that this wasn't just about her car anymore. It had become a metaphor for something bigger. "I take good care of her, Wayne," she assured him. "Philadelphia's got a lot of different neighborhoods, and most of them are perfectly safe. You've just got to know where you are and respond accordingly. If I have to go into a bad area, I take extra precautions. But I don't spend a lot of time in dodgy neighborhoods." Paige looked Wayne straight in the eye. "Emily lives in a very safe neighborhood," she assured him. "The kind where the neighbors look out for each other. I never have to worry when my car's parked out on her street."

Wayne chuckled, clapping Paige on the back and starting towards the house again, feeling relieved. "I know it's safe," he said. "Clara loved that neighborhood," he mused under his breath. Deep down, he knew that his only daughter was safe living there. Still, it helped to have Paige reassure him that it was so. "And you obviously take great care of her," he added. "I mean, that engine is immaculate."

"I won't let anything happen to her, sir." Paige ordinarily would have called him Wayne, but she used the word "sir" to signal that she was talking to Wayne: her girlfriend's father, not Wayne: the car enthusiast.

"I know you won't." Wayne patted her on the back.

"Mom," Emily said hurriedly, when Wayne and Paige finally made it up to the porch, "this is Paige…"

"Your girlfriend!" Pam gushed, putting her hands on Paige's cheeks with a smile that couldn't be contained. Her hands moved to Paige's back and she pulled her in for a hug.

"And, I guess you've already met my Dad," Emily said sarcastically.

* * *

Brunch was strained, to put it mildly, at least at the beginning. Paige wasn't saying much. She cleared her throat from time to time and played with the scrambled eggs on her plate. Pam was staring at her and Emily - and at the slightest interaction between the two of them, shooting Wayne knowing looks. It was sort of the way that she watched romance movies on the Hallmark Channel; only, to her delight, this movie was playing out right in front of her.

Emily kept trying to get the conversation started, lobbing leading questions to her mom and to Paige without much success.

"So, Paige," Pam began, "how long have you lived in Philly?"

Paige exhaled pleasantly, looking at Emily as she replied. "All my life." Turning her attention to Pam and Wayne, she shrugged, adding, "Philly born and raised."

"Oh!" Pam wriggled in her seat, excited, and looked at Emily with an "I'm impressed" expression, as if Paige had just announced that she'd come up with a cure for cancer. "So, are you one of those Philadelphians who loves the city, or one of those who loves to hate it?"

"Oh, I love it." Paige said without hesitation, nodding eagerly. "No question. It's a great city. There's so much culture and nightlife – plus, you can just hop on a train and be in New York or DC or Boston."

"Well, it's certainly a great place to meet girls," Pam mused, giving Wayne a not-so-subtle wink. "A lot better than Rosewood, right, Emmy?" Pam squeezed Emily's wrist as she said it. Emily's eyes went wide.

"Mom!"

"What?" Pam pleaded innocently. "We both know that those girls you dated in Rosewood were real..." Pam huffed as she tried to think of an acceptable word, finally coming up with, "hoots!" She shook her head, remembering a few of them.

"Mom!" Emily repeated, shooting daggers at Pam before she turned her attention to Wayne, pleading with her eyes for him to rescue her from this line of conversation.

"So, I uh…" Wayne cleared his throat. "So, Emily tells me your uncle started the business?"

"Mm hmm." Paige covered her mouth and quickly swallowed the bacon she had just taken a bite out of. "Yep. My Uncle John took me in, taught me the plumbing business."

"Well, I can't tell you how relieved I was when Emmy found a reliable plumber." Wayne paused and laughed. "Not as relieved as she was, I guess." He gave Emily a wink. "She was worried her old man would keep coming over and trying to fix things."

"But Paige doesn't just do plumbing," Emily said, trying to get Paige to talk about herself. "She also does electrical work too, right?"

Paige nodded. "My cousins are all pretty handy," she explained. "I picked up a lot just hanging around with them."

"Uh huh," Wayne grunted. "Like what?"

"Oh, carpentry, light masonry... I can hang dry wall. I'm only certified for plumbing or electrical, but I'm pretty handy with a lot of the building trades. And, for anything big, I can pretty much always find a cousin to help me out."

"So, who takes care of your car?"

"I do!" Paige bristled slightly, as if she were surprised by the question. She gave Emily a puzzled look before she turned her eyes back to Wayne. "Nobody touches that engine but me!"

Wayne threw his head back in a hearty laugh and patted Paige on the shoulder. "I don't blame you one bit!"

At that moment, any lingering doubts that Wayne may have had about Paige were wiped away. Wayne had always believed that the way that people take care of their property said a lot about them. And after seeing the way that Paige took care of her engine, he had no doubts about her ability to take care of his daughter.

Emily was silently rejoicing over the great first impression that Paige was making with her father. If Paige weren't sleeping in the guest room, Emily would've been the one who was taking care of Paige that night.

* * *

Emily was doing her best to stifle her moans as she assaulted Paige with long, searing kisses. She had Paige's shoulders pinned against the headboard, lying with the full weight of her body on top of her. It was a lot more aggressive than she'd ever been with Paige – or with any of her girlfriends, for that matter. It was mostly pride at the way that Paige had killed it with her parents, but Emily couldn't deny that part of it was the forbidden nature of what they were doing only a couple of doors down from her parents' room. To her Pam and Wayne, Paige was something of a saint, or an angel. But Emily wanted to bring out the devil in her.

"Someone's frisky," Paige observed when they stopped for a breath.

Emily heaved her shoulders. "Yeah," she sighed, rolling off of Paige and lying next to her with her legs crossed. Paige reached across her body and twisted her fingers through Emily's hair. Emily clasped her hands in her lap and put her head on Paige's shoulder. "I just wish we were back in Philly." Paige went to kiss the top of her head, but Emily turned to meet her lips. It was much tamer than the passionate kisses from a moment before. It was needy and full of frustration – by both of them. Emily had gotten Paige pretty heated up, but she knew as much as Emily did that they had to dial things back down. "I love you," Emily whispered sadly.

Paige stroked Emily's hair and gave her a quick peck. "I love you, too."

Emily put her hand on Paige's chest and yawned. She knew that she was pushing the limits of her parents' tolerance, but she didn't want to leave.

"I'm glad we're here," Paige said. She wasn't lying, although she also wished that they were back in Philadelphia at that moment. "Your parents are great."

Emily smirked, chuckling to herself. "Yeah, they think you're pretty great, too."

* * *

Hanna stood squealing and stomping her feet, with her body half-hunched over and her arms extended out and above her head as she prepared to hug her best friend for the first time in ages. Paige looked on a bit stunned, worried about Emily's ability to breathe in Hanna's tight grip. The hug went on for a few seconds before Hanna abruptly pushed Emily aside and, before Emily had caught enough of her breath to make an introduction, turned her attention to Paige, wrapping her into a tight hug of her own, even though Emily had forewarned her that Paige wasn't a hugger.

Hanna leaned her head back, her body still hugging Paige's and her arms on Paige's shoulders. She was scowling as she said, "Hey, I'm mad at you! How come you met all of Emily's other friends before you finally decided to meet her _best_ friend?"

Paige, overwhelmed and confused, looked to Emily for help. "Hanna," Emily warned.

Hanna put her head on Paige's shoulder and her arms around Paige's back again. "I forgive you," she announced jauntily, and she locked arms with Paige, strolling off towards the house with her. "So," she said, "I need to get some info. How much money do you make?"

"I do okay," Paige said. She was used to being asked that question when people found out that she was a plumber.

"Health insurance? Retirement plan?"

Paige looked to Emily, who was still at Hanna's car, catching up with Caleb. Apparently, Paige was on her own in the conversation. She unlinked her arm from Hanna's, patting Hanna's arm down at her side as if training a puppy. "Yeah, I've…" Paige cleared her throat. "I've got it covered."

"No need to take that tone, Paige! I haven't even asked you anything personal yet. Had a lot of girlfriends? Ever slept with a guy?"

Paige bristled. "Excuse me?" she said, a little too loud.

Hanna knocked shoulders with Paige, laughing lightly. "I'm only messing with you," she said jovially. In fact, she had been completely serious up until the point that Paige took offense. She wasn't sure what the big deal was about those questions, but she was trying to learn to respect people's boundaries.

"Oh." Paige chuckled apologetically. "Oh, okay."

"You make Emily happy, and that's all I need to know."

* * *

Paige was trying hard not to be overwhelmed by all of the new faces at dinner. Aria and Ezra were the only ones she had really gotten to know before that weekend, although she had met Spencer just briefly and was getting to know Emily's parents.

It didn't help that none of the others had seen each other in a while, so they were more preoccupied with catching up with each other than with welcoming her into their group. She spent a lot of time taking sips of her water, folding her napkin in her lap, and smiling pleasantly – especially when Emily looked over to make sure that she was okay.

"So, one thing I've always wanted to know lesbian couples," Hanna said, raising her voice to get Paige's attention from across the table. All of the side-conversations came to an abrupt halt at that statement, and all eyes focused on her. "What's the bathroom situation?"

"The bathroom situation," Paige echoed.

"Yeah," Hanna replied. "I mean, like, when Caleb and I were dating" – she turned and grabbed his arm for a second, like a prop – "and I needed to talk with my girls about something, we would just go to the bathroom. But how does that work with you and Emily? Do you just know not to go to the bathroom with her, or is there someplace else she would take us?"

Paige looked at Emily, and Emily shook her head. They burst into laughter, which spread around the table. Hanna threw her hands up, surprised and frustrated that no one was taking her question seriously. She let her hands fall onto the table as she muttered to herself in resignation, "That's what happens when you try to get a _straight_ answer out of a _gay_ girl."

* * *

"I hope dinner wasn't too uncomfortable," Emily said, clinging tightly to Paige's arm as they took an evening walk through downtown Rosewood before heading back to the house.

"It was fine," Paige assured her, reaching over to pat her arm. Emily stopped and turned to Paige, her eyebrow raised skeptically. "Okay," Paige chuckled, "it was pretty awkward. But it's fine." She started walking again. "I know that you guys needed a chance to catch up."

"Yeah, but I really wanted you to get to know them. And I wanted them to get to know you."

Paige shrugged her shoulders. "There'll be plenty of time for that." She paused, turning to give Emily a kiss. "I'm not going anywhere."

As they walked a bit farther, Emily smiled, biting her lip. "I miss Shana," she said, squeezing Paige's hand. "I miss the way she comes into the bedroom in the morning and just stands there and pants, you know? Until we give her some attention." Emily sighed and wrapped her arm around Paige's waist, giving her a squeeze. "I miss waking up next to you in the morning," she said softly, finally admitting the truth. It had only been one night, but it felt like an eternity.

Paige turned to face Emily, wrapping her arms low around her waist as she backed her up against the wall of the post office. It was getting dark, and the street was deserted. Emily looked into Paige's eyes, anticipating what was coming next. Paige nervously ran her fingers through her hair before returning her hand to Emily's hip. "Em," she began, "there's something I've wanted to talk to you about." Emily nodded. "Mikey – my cousin?"

Emily nodded. Of course she knew who Mikey was. Paige was stalling because of nerves.

"Well, he needs a place to stay, 'cause it's really not working out with his roommates. They're not the kind of influence he needs in his life right now, and he's trying to get his shit together, and well…" Paige could hear herself rambling. She paused and ran her fingers through her hair again, trying to collect her thoughts.

Emily was smiling graciously, hoping that the smile would help Paige calm down. There was plenty of room in her house, and, if Mikey needed a place to stay, that wouldn't be a problem.

"Anyway." Paige blew a loud breath through her nose and just blurted out what she had to say. "I was thinking. I could let him have my apartment, and maybe you and I could… I mean, if it's not too soon…"

Emily's jaw dropped for a split second. This wasn't where she had thought the conversation was going. She put her hand behind Paige's neck and pulled her in for a kiss. "Really?" she squealed like a surprised child. "You want to move in together?"

Paige smiled, emboldened by the look on Emily's face. "Well, yeah," she said confidently, adding, in a deeper, softer voice, "I miss waking up next to you, too." Paige rubbed Emily's arms.

Emily kissed her again, her eyes filled with delight. "I don't think it's too fast," she assured her, nodding her head. "God – it feels as if it took us a lifetime to get to this point."

Paige pulled her in for a hug, rubbing her back. Just then, a car drove by, and the passenger rolled down the window and hooted loudly at their public display. Emily shook her head. _Hanna._

* * *

 **A/N – Hello, dear people… Thanks so much for your patience with the gap between updates to this story. I'm not sure how much life it has left or even where it's going from this point. I'm going to need a minute to figure things out, but I'm guessing (fingers crossed) this won't the last update in 2017.**

 **I so appreciate your reviews and PMs. Thanks for reading! :)**


	7. Drive my Car

"Good morning!"

Pam and Wayne's voices came in unison as Emily stumbled into the kitchen, half awake.

"I thought you would've gone with Paige." Pam's voice rose as she said it, as if it had been a question.

"Oh, no," Emily mumbled sleepily, waving her off. "She gets up way too early for me." Emily's head jerked to attention as soon as the words were out of her mouth, and her eyelids parted, wide awake. "I…uh… mean… she _got_ up way too early," she said quickly, causing Pam and Wayne to stare at each other, confused, for a second, before they realized why Emily had corrected herself. Had she just left it alone, they probably wouldn't have registered the implication that she was trying to avoid – that she was used to staying in bed after Paige woke up and headed out – but her guilty correction was like a giant arrow pointing them to the fact that she and Paige were spending their nights together on a regular basis.

Emily sighed, resignedly, realizing what she had done. It wasn't even a secret, really; her parents knew that she and Paige had slept together. But Emily assumed that it was one of those things that was supposed to remain unspoken among them, and she panicked once she violated that unwritten rule.

"I don't know why she didn't just bring the dog in the first place," Pam mused, addressing no one in particular; just thinking out loud.

"I told her!" Emily's voice was high and animated and she put her arms up helplessly, as if she were still arguing the point with Paige. "I told her that Rosewood was a great place for a dog, with lots of places for Shana to run around, but she said no; it was too much of an imposition. I mean," – Emily chuckled in her throat and held her arms wide apart, to represent Shana's size – "Shana is a _big_ dog."

"Yeah, she is!" Wayne bellowed, slapping his hand down on the table before he realized it. When both Pam and Emily eyed him, startled and confused by his outburst, he laughed defensively. "I mean, Paige isn't the kind of girl to walk around with one of those frou frou dogs you carry around in a purse! Shana's a _beast!_ She would eat little dogs like that for breakfast!" Wayne looked back and forth between Pam and Emily, waiting for them to share his enthusiasm. Emily just shook her head with a slight smirk. "What?" he contended. "Am I wrong?"

"No," Emily said, fighting off a laugh. "It's just…" When Emily didn't explain, Wayne raised his hands in anticipation, his body asking what her point was. "Dad, what is Paige, like some superhero to you?"

Wayne leaned back in his chair with a dismissive wave. He was trying to cover up the fact that there was some truth in what Emily had said.

Wayne loved his daughter deeply. She was truly the joy of his life. But he was what some people would call a "man's man," and he always had, somewhere in the back of his mind, a dream of the day when Emily would bring home a guy he could relate to: a guy he could watch football and pound down a few beers with; a guy he could spend a day tinkering on an old engine out in the garage with; a guy like Paige, basically. It didn't matter that it ended up being a girl, not a guy. Pam and Wayne had come to accept Emily's sexuality long ago, and had realized that she was still the same daughter they loved. When Emily started introducing them to her girlfriends, Wayne slowly lost track of his dreams of being able to hang out with Emily's partner. But all those long-forgotten dreams came back in a flash, once he met Paige. Wayne himself was surprised by how excited he was about it, but he just couldn't help it.

"Maybe _you_ should've driven back to Philly with her," Emily teased.

"Oh, yeah. Because that wouldn't have been too weird – stuck in a car with her father-in-law." Emily let out a loud, long sigh, shaking her head in disbelief. "Or, not father-in-law; what's the word?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Girlfriend's father," she said flatly, knowing that her father was just trying to get to her.

"Yeah, yeah. That's it."

"Yeah," she agreed, and turned back to her earlier needling. "And you two could've bonded over her dog... and her car... and... the Army-Navy game, like a couple of bros!"

"I… she…" Wayne stammered, finally concluding, "I'm just excited for you, Emmy. Can't a dad be excited for his daughter?"

"I don't think you're excited for _me_ ," Emily said wryly. "I wasn't the one you rushed to see when Paige pulled up in her Mustang yesterday."

"Man, that car's a beauty," Wayne sighed, tilting his head back and savoring the memory. "I bet Paige has her purring like a kitten."

Emily did her best not to giggle. _That's not the only thing she has purring like a kitten. Damn it! Where's Hanna when I need someone to share a sly wink with over comments like that?_

"I bet she just sort of eases down on the pedal, not too rough, takes it slowly at first; gets that engine all warmed up and then POW!" Wayne clapped his hands violently and then mimicked shifting gears. "Rams it into gear and just goes to town on her!"

"Dad Stop!" Emily gasped. All that talk about Paige handling her car was getting Emily a little too excited. It didn't help that they'd had to sleep in separate beds the night before.

Realizing that she couldn't really justify her urgent reaction to what Wayne had without an embarrassing explanation of its sexual overtones, Emily squeezed his arm and turned it into a joke. "You've got to let it go."

Wayne put his hands up, chastened. "I know, I know," he said with an embarrassed smile. "I'm getting too excited." He took a breath and took a sip of his coffee. But he couldn't help adding, "Man, what I wouldn't give to get behind the wheel of that car for a couple of minutes."

"So, why don't you just ask her?"

"Ask her," Wayne scoffed, looking over at Pam, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, ask her," Emily repeated, not getting what the big deal was. "I'm sure she'd let you take it for a drive."

"Oh, Emily…" Wayne wrapped his arm around Emily's shoulder and continued, in his most condescending tone. "You don't know what car guys are like. They don't let _anybody_ behind the wheel of their babies."

"Why not?" Emily said, matter-of-factly. "I've driven her car!"

Wayne jerked back in his seat, almost spitting out his sip of coffee. Pam gasped audibly. Wayne leaned in close to Emily and whispered, as if he were protecting a state secret, "Does she know about it?"

"Does she..." Emily looked at both of her parents in disbelief. "Of course, she knows about it! I needed to run some errands," she explained nonchalantly, "so I dropped her off at work and took her car for the rest of the day."

Emily didn't get why Wayne and Pam were looking at her as if she were telling them about the time she took Air Force One out for a spin.

Wayne looked at Pam, helplessly trying to make sense of what he was hearing. Pam stood up and grabbed his coffee cup, giving him a kiss as she went to refill it. "Well, I guess it's a different time, Wayne."

Wayne chuckled philosophically. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Pam leaned back against the counter, sipping from her own cup of coffee as she addressed Emily. "Well, I'm just surprised you made her take that long drive all by herself. I'm sure she would've loved some company."

Emily tightened her lips and took a deep breath. "Well, actually," she began, carefully surveying her parents' faces, trying to read any hint in them about how the rest of the conversation might go, "there's something we need to talk about."

Wayne straightened up in his chair, looking back to Pam, to see whether or not he should be concerned. Pam was definitely concerned, and she scooted back in her chair, flashing Emily a look that bordered on panic. Emily spread her lips in a slight, tight-lipped smile, to reassure them that they didn't need to fear the worst.

"Paige and I have been talking… and we've decided… that we want to move in together." Emily cleared her throat. "That we're _going_ to move in together," she said, moving her head for emphasis on the word "going," in an attempt to be more assertive.

"Oh," Pam said, looking at Wayne, as if asking him to take the lead.

"Well, Emmy," he said calmly, looking her in the eye in a way that Emily could only describe as half-fatherly, half-militarily, "you know how your mother and I feel about that. And it has nothing to do with Paige or the fact that she's a woman. You know that, too." Emily nodded her head. Her parents had made clear their thoughts about right and wrong from the time that she was a child. But she resolved to stand her ground on this one. Ultimately, it was her decision, and telling them was basically a courtesy. They didn't get a vote – although she had hoped to get their approval. Wayne sighed and nodded at Pam, signaling her to take over the thread of the conversation. Evidently, they had been prepared for this conversation – or one like it.

Pam squeezed Emily's arm. "But, Emily, you're old enough to make your own decisions, and we're going to support you in those decisions, the way we always have." Emily's breathing became a little more relaxed on hearing that, and she let her shoulders drop from their defensive posture.

"And you're old enough to make your own mistakes," Wayne added. "And to learn from them."

Pam head jerked back when she heard that, and she quickly added, "Not that we're calling Paige is a mistake…"

Wayne turned to look at his wife, his forehead wrinkled in confusion. "No, of course not," he asserted. _How could anybody think that Paige was a mistake?_

Emily let out a relieved chuckle. "Well, thank you," she said, biting her lip as she looked down at her coffee cup. It was a bit anticlimactic, and she hadn't gotten the chance to use any of the arguments that she had prepared, but she couldn't complain. Things could've gone a lot worse.

"So, she's going to move into Aunt Ashley's house?" Pam asked.

"Yes, she's going to move into _my_ house," Emily replied, and Pam rolled her eyes. She knew that Emily was sensitive about the fact that she was a grown-up, and it was her house, but she was reading too much into the Aunt Ashley reference.

"Well," Wayne said leaning back in his chair, finally able to relax again, "I've got to admit, I'll feel a bit better, knowing that you're not alone."

Pam nodded her agreement. "Have you guys set a date?"

Emily shrugged. "We haven't really talked about it. I mean, she only asked me last night. But…" Emily caught herself before she admitted to her parents that they were practically living together already.

"But?" Wayne prodded, when Emily fell silent.

"But… I don't really see a reason to put it off," she said, congratulating herself for thinking on her feet.

"Emmy," Pam said in a soft voice that she hoped would come off as non-threatening, "don't you think that things are moving a bit too fast between the two of you?" Emily rolled her eyes and groaned silently. "No, I'm not questioning your relationship. But, after all, your first date was barely two weeks ago."

Emily didn't want to get upset, because she understood Pam's point. And she knew that her mother was only trying to protect her heart. "No," Emily said with a shrug. "I mean, I've known Paige since I moved to Philadelphia. And she became my friend – my good friend in that time. My best friend in Philly. This phase of our relationship may be moving quickly, but we waited a long time to get here, you know?" Pam nodded, a tinge of concern still evident in the wrinkles on her forehead. "I mean, Dad, it's like what you said before about a car: We took it slowly, let our friendship warm up, but, when it came time to pop the clutch and kick it into gear, we put the pedal to the metal!" Emily shifted in her seat, proud of herself for having adapted Wayne's own words to make her point.

Pam walked over and put her arm around Emily, leaning her head in as she hugged her. "Well, as long as you're sure."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Paige pulled up to the house and let Shana out of the car. Shana was trying her best to stay into control as Wayne bounded energetically towards her. Paige gave her the go-ahead, and she raced off to meet him. He let her get a whiff of her hand and then pushed her face away, playfully trying to wrestle her to the ground. She looked back at Paige, and saw her relaxed at the exchange, so she put her paws up on Wayne's chest, and soon the two of them were wrestling on the front lawn, rolling each other over, trying to gain dominance. Shana never really had anyone to play like that with her. She was a very gentle dog, but she enjoyed this change of pace; the opportunity to be a big, oversized puppy once again – romping on the lawn with the big, oversized puppy that was Wayne Fields.

Seeing that the two of them were occupied, Emily took Paige to the side and held both of her hands, looking deep into her eyes. Paige's forehead furrowed in concern, not knowing what was wrong.

"Hey," Emily said, moving a hand to Paige's face. "I'm sorry… about the car. I didn't know."

"The car?"

Emily sighed. "My Dad told me. Car guys don't let people drive their cars. If I'd known, I never would've asked." She gave Paige a soft, apologetic kiss.

"What?" Paige feigned ignorance. Her scoff was a little bit too fake. "I let people drive my car – you know that!"

Emily tilted her head and pursed her lips. She certainly did not know that. She'd never seen anyone touch Paige's car.

Paige's shoulders dropped in surrender and she dipped her head.

"You should've told me no," Emily insisted. "I would've understood."

A smile spread across Paige's mouth. "Who could possibly say no to you?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "I'm serious Paige. You don't have to let me drive your car. I don't want you to worry about it."

"Em, I have no problem with you driving my car." When Emily gave her a skeptical look, Paige added, "I trust you with everything I own. And, anyway, you're way more important to me than a car." That earned Paige another soft kiss. It wasn't the reason she'd said it, but she didn't object. Hoping to get Emily off the subject of her penitence, Paige squeezed her hand and said, "Seriously, Em. I'm just impressed to find a woman who can handle a stick!"

Emily scoffed. "Well, you can thank Wayne Fields for that," she said dryly. "He insisted that I learn how to drive stick. He wouldn't even let me use my Mom's car for the driving test!"

"A wise, wise man…"

Emily sighed, rolling her eyes, before she continued with a demure chuckle. "He, um…He's like totally jealous of me. He _really_ wants to drive your car."

"Oh, yeah," Paige said eagerly. "Of course, he can drive my car!"

"Paige!" Emily whined, making the word into two syllables. She realized that her fingers had been dancing across Paige's collarbone, so she pulled them back, not wanting to exert any undue influence on Paige's decision-making process. "You _can_ say 'no,' you know," she said positively beaming that Paige was willing to do whatever she asked. "Pretend my Dad's the one who's asking, instead of me."

"Yeah. I'm sure." Paige shrugged her shoulders, as though it were not a big deal. "He's a car-guy," she explained. "It's like, car-guy-to-car-guy courtesy, you know?"

Emily pulled back and looked Paige in the eye. "Are you sure? Because he didn't even want me to ask you. He was afraid I was going to… guilt you into it, or something, I don't know."

Paige smirked. "Are you sure you _want_ him to drive my car?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, maybe you like feeling special, you know. The only one I let drive her."

Emily hadn't thought of that until she heard Paige say it, and, for an instant, it did feel kind of special that she, alone, could drive Paige's car. But she didn't need a car to assure her of her unique place in Paige's heart. And she really wanted her dad to be able to drive it, since it meant so much to him. "No, that's not how I feel," she said, playfully drawing out the words. "And would you guys stop calling your car 'her?' – That's just weird!"

"Oh, so it's not your dad but my car that you're jealous of?"

"Shut up," Emily said, feeling herself starting to blush. She took Paige's arm and headed over towards the backyard, where Wayne and Shana were still going at it. "If you could, like… not let him know that I asked you," she said softly. "He'd be really embarrassed. I mean, he's going to know that I asked you, I guess, but…"

Paige nodded in understanding. "I'll be subtle."

* * *

Shana was a big hit at the picnic that afternoon. And she, herself, was having a great time. There was no shortage of people willing to toss around a ball – or a frisbee, or a stick – with her; whenever one person got tired, there was always someone else ready to take over. The entire time, Shana kept an eye on Paige, making sure that she was okay - not too lonely or jealous - with all the attention being thrown Shana's way.

"So, Emily tells me there's an abandoned runway around here that you guys use as a drag strip?" Paige, leaned back in the deck chair to rest from all of the running around she'd been doing at the picnic, and took a swig from her beer bottle.

Wayne nodded his head eagerly. "Yeah, yeah. The Air National Guard strip, just outside the base. Technically, it's not abandoned. They still maintain, it, in case of emergencies. But we haven't had a landing there in years." Wayne sat forward in his chair, and Paige could see the fire in his eye. "I know the sergeant in charge. I could get you on there, if you want to see what that car of yours can really do."

"That'd be awesome!" Paige said, raising her bottle to toast it against Wayne's.

"Yeah. Guy's name is Wilcox, but everybody calls him…." Wayne cleared his throat as Pam shot him a warning glance. "Uh… 'Wilcox,'" he said, changing it up at the last minute. "They call him Wilcox," he said, with a sly smile. "Just tell him Wayne sent you. He'll hook you up."

Paige's head snapped back. "You're sending me off by myself? Not going along to show me the ropes?"

"Ohh…." Wayne said, shaking his head smiling dismissively, "I don't know what you could possibly learn from an old guy like me…"

"Okay," Paige said with a hint of sarcasm. "I was just wondering what it would be like for a Camaro guy to get behind the wheel of a _real_ American muscle car."

"Ooh – that sounds like a challenge to me!"

Paige took a sip of her beer and tilted her head nonchalantly. "Call it whatever you want…. _Old Man!_ "

"All right, then!" Wayne stood to his feet, a big, toothy smile plastered across his face as he extended his hand towards Paige. "You're on!"

Pam and Emily didn't go with them to the track. Neither one of them wanted to see it. Wayne and Paige had taken every precaution – helmets, flame-retardant gear – and assured the two of them that they weren't going to overdo it, but, even so, Pam and Emily weren't interested in seeing it. For them, it would have been the wrong kind of adrenaline rush; a rush of fear, rather than exhilaration. They could have put a stop to the race, but they didn't want to. Despite their fears, they trusted Wayne and Paige to drive safely. And, truth be told, they were both kind of happy about the fact that their partners were bonding. That hadn't been the case with Emily's girlfriends from high school or college. Those girls found it hard enough to say two sentences to Pam and Wayne as they waited for Emily to come downstairs for their dates. Only a few of them ever sat down for a meal with the family - and none of them voluntarily hung out with Pam or Wayne when Emily wasn't around.

* * *

As eager as Emily was for a bit of time alone with Paige, she was trying to make her face look upset when she stopped by the guest room to say good night. Her expression took Paige by surprise, since things had seemed okay earlier, over dinner. She rubbed Emily's arms slowly and asked what was the matter.

Emily stepped away from her and looked off to the side, crossing her arms. "You said you were going to call me as soon as you finished, to let me know that you were safe."

Paige's shoulders drooped and she sighed helplessly. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Em. It just completely slipped my mind. I just… with your dad, it was just… we were…" Paige was gesturing wildly, trying to contain her excitement, because she knew she had done wrong.

Emily caught Paige's arms and put them down at her side. "Okay," she said lightly. "Don't get all geeked up about how cool it was hanging with my Dad again." Her voice was sarcastic and over the top. "I get it!" she added with a laugh.

"So you're not mad at me?" Paige asked, dipping her head sheepishly.

Emily shook her head and kissed her. "I'm glad that you get along with my parents." Laughing lightly, she added, "Actually, you're like the daughter-in-law my Dad's always dreamed of." Emily bit her lip and peeked at Paige, hoping it wasn't too soon to say that. Paige rolled her eyes with a smile that let Emily know she wasn't scared off by the word.

Emily took a seat on the bed and extended her arm to Paige, who joined her there. "We had the talk this morning."

Paige nodded. She knew that had been the plan. "How'd it go."

"I mean… it went okay, I guess." Emily shrugged her shoulders. " Better than I expected. They're not going to change their minds about living together, but they know that I'm old enough to make my own decisions." Emily quickly added, "It's not about _you!_ "

"I know," Paige assured her. Paige put a leg up on the bed and took Emily's hand. "Your dad and I talked about it, on the way back from the track." Emily stiffened a little, taken aback by that news. Paige stroked her arm, letting her know it was okay. "He told me that it was different, when he and your mom were dating. And, you know, in his eyes, marriage is a commitment; living together is kind of a trial run." Emily rolled her eyes. Page nodded, knowing how Emily felt. "He wasn't challenging our decision," she explained, "just explaining the way he feels. And I told him that it's different, with us. For us, living together is the commitment. Getting married is like dessert. You don't have to wait to start the meal just because the dessert's not ready yet."

"You did _not_ say that to my Dad…"

"Something like that," Paige said with an embarrassed shrug. "I don't know, it came out better when I said it to him."

Emily leaned into Paige's chest, wrapping Paige's arm around her shoulder. "So, I'm the dessert?"

"Okay, you totally got that metaphor wrong…"

"Shh!" Emily pressed her finger to Paige's lips. "I'm the dessert," she said forcefully, following the words with a gentle kiss.

Paige smirked triumphantly. "You're the dessert," she conceded.

But dessert would have to wait. They still had another night in Rosewood before they headed back to Philadelphia.

* * *

 **A/N - Yeah, this is why I like to publish every day when I'm doing a multi-chapter... If I don't, I tend to procrastinate and find a million things to do other than write. Thanks for reading! Thanks for your patience! Have a wonderful new year! :)**


	8. Stormy Weather

Emily scampered off the couch, tossing aside the magazine she'd been reading, when she heard Paige's key in the front door. Her expression changed from excitement to maternal concern when she saw Paige, soaked, dripping water in the entryway.

"Honey!" Emily had never used that word before, with anyone, and it surprised when she heard it coming out of her mouth. But she couldn't help it. She worried about Paige. She tried to get Paige's jacket off, but Paige kept swatting her hands away. Emily finally slapped her on the shoulder. "Would you just let me help you?" she bellowed, irritated. Paige never said a word. She just stood there, scowling, obviously in a bad mood. "How did you even get this wet, between the sidewalk and the front door?" Paige heaved her shoulders and sighed, and Emily realized that she hadn't heard the roar of an engine before Paige turned up in the door way. "Paige!" Emily screeched, slapping Paige's shoulder again. She realized that Paige must've parked in her uncle's garage and walked home, to protect the car from the rain. "I swear, if you took as good care of your body as you do of that car…" Paige tilted her head at Emily and scowled, and Emily threw her hands up in surrender, knowing she'd never win a discussion with Paige about the way she babied her car. "Go," she told her, as though she were talking to her nine-year-old daughter. "Go get out of those wet things and take a shower."

Paige glared at her, defiantly. She wasn't a child. Emily glared back. Paige's shoulders drooped and she slunk past Emily, towards the stairs. "And put your robe on," Emily called behind her. "That new one. The warm one!"

Emily followed Paige with her eyes until she was out of sight in the hallway on the second floor. She groaned in frustration as she picked up Paige's wet jacket, stretching it out and looking it over with a deep, frustrated sigh. "What am I going to do with you?" she said into its empty shell, shaking it up and down with each word. Of course, her words weren't meant for the jacket, but for its owner. She carried the jacket into the basement and tossed it into the dryer, being careful to leave as small a trail of water behind her as possible. She retrieved a couple of paper towels from the kitchen and wiped up the puddle in the entryway. When she heard the water start to run upstairs, she let out a relieved sigh and relaxed back onto the couch, knowing that Paige would be in a better mood on the other side of a nice, hot shower.

* * *

Paige came down the stairs slowly, like a guilty puppy, wondering whether she was going to get the annoyed-Mommy treatment from Emily again. Emily turned her head in Paige's direction with a slight smile and Paige, encouraged, joined her, plopping herself down on the couch beside Emily, letting her hands fall between her knees as she landed.

"I didn't start dinner yet. I'm sorry. I… I just…" Emily wasn't sure why she hadn't started dinner. Ordinarily, she would have had it going long before Paige got home, but, for some reason, it had completely slipped her mind.

"Good," Paige said, cutting her off. "I just need to chill for a while."

Emily smiled and stretched out her arm, inviting Paige to lean against her shoulder, but Paige curled her legs up on the couch and lay down in Emily's lap, her hands underneath her face, and settled in. Emily undid Paige's loose bun and started stroking her fingers through Paige's hair, which was still slightly wet. It was soothing, and Paige moaned contentedly from time to time. All at once, her body tensed and she moved to sit up. "I need to walk Shana!"

Emily gently pressed Paige's head back into her lap. "She went out earlier, in the backyard."

"Backyard" was a bit of an exaggeration. There was only the tiniest patch of land behind their row house, and it was only used as a last resort for taking Shana out.

"She doesn't like being out in this rain," Emily explained, as Paige well knew. "Especially when there's thunder."

Paige nodded her head in Emily's lap and started to relax again. Before long, Paige's intermittent moans faded away and her breathing eased out. Emily smiled to herself and leaned over, kissing Paige's temple.

* * *

When Paige woke up and her eyesight cleared, she saw that Emily, apparently bored, had begun painting her toes. _Her_ toes. Paige's toes.

"This is… different…"

Emily giggled, putting her hand over her mouth, guiltily. "I… uh… I just thought…"

Paige sat up and examined Emily's handiwork, realizing that she must really have been out of it, if she could sleep through the entire process - including the part where Emily put cotton balls between her toenails. She had created the most fantastic, girly, unicorns-and-rainbows designs on Paige's nails. It was, with almost no exaggeration, the last thing in the world that Paige would've chosen for her toes. As Emily well knew.

"You didn't take any pictures, did you?" Paige asked, already knowing the answer. Emily lowered her head and smiled coyly. Paige sighed, resignedly. "Hanna?"

Emily bit her lip. "But she won't tell a soul, Paige. I promise. And, besides, I told her they were my feet." Paige cocked an eyebrow. Even with those toenails, there was no way that Hanna would ever mistake her feet for Emily's. Emily put her hand on Paige' neck, stroking her cheek with her thumb. "I had to show somebody," she pleaded. "They're just so pretty!"

Paige shook her head and let out a heavy breath. Pretty feet were never a goal of hers. Still, she was smiling. Emily thanked her with a kiss, for not overreacting. Paige should have been annoyed at what Emily had done, but, on the contrary, she was kind of giddy about it. It was the realization that they had that kind of relationship; that her girlfriend would wonder what she'd look like with a "pretty" pedicure, and would decide to paint her toenails while she slept; that Emily felt secure enough in their relationship to pull off a stunt like that.

"What?" Emily said, smiling nervously. Paige just kept on staring at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Paige couldn't keep herself from smiling, and Emily was sure that it was because she was plotting her revenge. Instead, Paige grabbed her by the head with both hands and kissed her, harder than she'd kissed her for a while. Emily, pleasantly surprised, stroked up and down Paige's side. She subtly undid the sash around Paige's robe. "You got anything on under there?" she teased as she opened the robe wide – and opened her eyes just as wide, as though she were seeing Paige's body for the first time. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight. "Niente!"

Paige stood, shrugging off the robe, and lifting Emily off the couch. "Paige! Wait! Your nails aren't dry yet!"

There was a sense of urgency in Paige's step as she carried Emily up the stairs and off to bed. Emily landed with a thud on the mattress, the force of it sending her adrenaline into overload. She hoped that Paige hadn't heard the tell-tale clack when the bed shifted as her body hit it, but the way Paige rolled her eyes let her know that she had, in fact, heard it.

Paige's eyelids narrowed and she let out a long, deep, frustrated moan. Emily was almost sure that she saw steam blow out of Paige's ears, the way it did in cartoons when someone got angry. She leaned forward on the bed, resting on her elbows with her ass slightly elevated, and gave Paige her most seductive, pleading face. "Paige… let it go," she begged.

Paige pursed her lips, her eyes still peeking out from narrow slits. "Em, I _always_ let it go, and it never gets taken care of."

"Please?" Emily stood up and rubbed Paige's arms. "Just one more night, and I swear I'll make you fix it in the morning!"

"Emily," Paige said as if talking to a cranky three-year-old, "if I don't fix it, it's going to be rattling against the hardwood floor all night!"

"Ooh!" Emily moved closer to Paige, pressing her thigh into Paige's crotch. "All night? You promise?"

When Emily kissed Paige, daring Paige to try to deny her tongue entry into her mouth, Paige's brain melted. But her resolve did not. She ripped at the collar of Emily's shirt, tearing it off of her body. Emily yelped in surprise and delight, jumping a bit in anticipation. Paige raised the shirt to her mouth and bit at the seam, then ripped off a slice with her bare hands. She folded the fabric over once and once more, quickly shoving it under the leg at the foot of the bed that was just a little to short. "There!" she muttered to herself. It wasn't a permanent fix, but it would do for the night – unless they really got the bed rocking.

With that task taken care of, her attention went back to much more pressing business, as she quickly stood and tackled her squealing, unsuspecting girlfriend onto the bed.

* * *

"You're still turned on, aren't you?" Emily observed as she lay next to Paige, slowly rubbing circles against her belly. Paige gave her a skeptical glare, trying her best to camouflage her lust. "I can tell," Emily giggled. "Your ears get bright red!" She brushed Paige's hair out of the way, and her fingers brushed against Paige's ear. "Holy shit, Paige! Your ears are burning up!"

"Shut up," Paige said, swatting Emily's hand away, embarrassed at the secret that her body refused to let her keep. _Move your other hand a little lower_ , she thought, _and you'll see what's really burning up!_

"I'm okay," Paige said, tucking Emily's hair behind her ear, searching for an indication that she wasn't the only one who was turned on. She wasn't; Emily's ear – and the skin on the back of her neck – were unnaturally warm as well, to Paige's great relief. But she knew Emily. She knew that Emily liked to lie together and just chill after they made love. That wasn't something that Paige had been used to doing before Emily, but it was something that she had grown to enjoy. "Let's just lie here."

As Emily's fingers made their way over the creases on Paige's stomach, a thought occurred to her. "Aw, crap!" Emily started to sit up. "You must be starving!"

Paige restrained her, gently guiding her back down onto the mattress. "I'm _fine,_ " she lied. "Just lie here with me." Paige put her hand on top of Emily's hand, moving it in the elliptical patterns it had been tracing before Emily remembered dinner.

"I didn't feed you today!" Emily protested.

"Didn't feed me…" Paige echoed derisively. "What are you, my nanny?"

Emily sighed, louder than she needed to, to let Paige know how annoyed she was. "Just let me make you a sandwich. It'll take two minutes. You can even eat it in bed."

"Really?" Paige asked, a leering look in her eye as she sat up on one elbow, "Because, if I'm going to eat anything in bed, I'd rather have a taco!" Paige lowered her gaze to Emily's legs, as if there were any doubt as to what she was talking about.

Emily rolled her eyes and started to get up again, but, again, Paige restrained her. "I'm not even hungry," she whined. "Don't leave me."

"Fine, whatever." Emily knew Paige. She knew that Paige had skipped lunch because she was in the middle of a job and didn't want to stop. That was how it always was when Paige came home cranky. But she also knew that, after a few more minutes of having her stomach rubbed, Paige would be fast asleep. So, rather than arguing about it, she just lay back and kept rubbing Paige's stomach. Surely enough, before too long, Paige was sleeping.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Paige whined in protest, and Emily cursed herself for getting up before she had fully tranquilized Paige.

"Two minutes," she whispered, turning back towards the bed and opening her robe, flashing the goods for Paige. It worked; with a contented smile, Paige closed her eyes and started to slumber again.

Paige was still sleeping when Emily returned a short while later, carrying a tray with two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a half-gallon of milk.

"Paige?"

Paige opened one eye, annoyed at the disruption until she caught sight of the tray. She sat up in bed immediately, like a cat anticipating a treat. "Oh, my God – you're an angel!" she exclaimed.

"You're just now noticing that?" Emily said with a wry smirk.

Paige practically inhaled the sandwiches, licking stray drops of jelly off her of fingers as she did. "You know," she said through a mouthful of sandwich, "when I was a kid, I used to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches for breakfast every day."

"Really?" Emily took a second to think about what that would taste like, and curled up her nose. "Ew!"

"I was trying to bulk up. I used to be a real scrawny kid, and I read about this football player who was really skinny in high school, so he ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches every day."

"Okay…" Emily could totally see Paige doing that as a child: Setting a goal and obsessing over it. "So, you were bulking up for field hockey?"

"Naw," Paige said, pausing to lick peanut butter off of her thumb. "This was before that. Middle school. I was bulking up because of this chick, Molly. 'Manly Molly,' they called her." Paige chuckled at the memory. "She was, like, head-and-shoulders taller than all the nuns. In _middle school,_ mind you. And built like a linebacker." Paige flexed her muscles to emphasize the point.

"So… you… were crushing on this girl, Molly?" Emily wasn't getting Paige's motivation.

"No." Paige laughed at the suggestion. "She just had this… energy, you know? Like, whatever room she entered, she was in immediately charge. I just… I wanted to be like that. I guess."

"Wow. So, did it work?"

"No. Well, maybe. I don't know. Maybe it would've. But you know how it is on the swim team. They watch your BMI so closely, and they control everything you eat."

"Well, good." Emily, sitting next to Paige, wrapped her arms around her from behind, at the waist. "Don't get me wrong. I like a girl who can kick some ass, but…" Emily reached down and gave Paige's cheeks a squeeze. "I also like this cute little ass."

"Yeah? And how do you feel about my toenails?" They weren't exactly decorated for kicking ass.

"Sorry!" Emily said, clearly not sorry for her artwork. It had been fun, and Paige wasn't really annoyed by it. Plus, it would be easy for Paige to take it off. She kissed Paige on the neck, on her way to leaning her head against Paige's shoulder.

Paige never did bother to take the nail polish off. She was actually sorry to see it fade as, bit by bit, her toenails grew. Nobody ever saw her toenails anyway, and she liked having the designs as a little reminder of what a great girlfriend she had.

"Thanks for this," Paige said, raising her empty plate to indicate what she was thanking Emily for. "I was really hungry!"

"Oh, really, I couldn't tell," Emily said dryly, remarking at how quickly Paige had scarfed down both sandwiches, not even thinking to ask whether Emily was hungry. Paige smiled guiltily and reached for the carton of milk. "Paige!" Emily snapped, "I brought you a…" Paige's eyes widened in guilt, in the middle of the long gulp of milk that she was taking directly from the carton. "Never mind," Emily sighed, rubbing Paige's shoulder reassuringly. Paige had had a long day. Emily wasn't going to stress over her table manners.

"So, how was your day?" Paige asked, swiping a napkin against her lips.

"Oh, you know. The usual. I wrote for an hour this morning. Tried to take Shana out, but she's such a baby when it comes to the rain. And then I read for a while, cleaned the place up a bit, and then just kind of hung out on the couch for a while." Emily planted her face on Paige's shoulder, suddenly embarrassed at how little she had accomplished since Paige left the house early in the morning. "Sorry. I know you had to do real work all day."

"Are you kidding me?" Paige kissed the top of Emily's head. "I could never do what you do. I still don't get how you can just decide that you're going to write for an hour. I mean, what if you can't think of anything to write about?"

"Yeah, trust me," Emily said with a slight chuckle, "writer's block can be a bitch!" She shrugged her shoulders. "But you just have to work through it, you know?"

Paige shook her head. "I could never do what you do," she repeated. "And I know that our jobs are different. You have your hectic days just as I have mine."

"Well, I _definitely_ could never do what you do!" Emily shook her head dismissively.

"You'd be surprised," Paige said. "Most of what I do is just common sense." Emily looked at Paige, raising an eyebrow. Paige laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "Okay, yeah," Paige admitted reluctantly. "You could never do what I do."

"Do you remember that night, when you put the dimmer switch on the light in the dining room?"

Paige snorted. "How could I forget?" She shook her head her head at the memory. "You looked So _._ Damned. Amazing. And I was so jealous of the guy who was going to get to be your date."

"Aww…" Emily kissed Paige's ear. Suddenly turning shy, she squeezed Paige's hand, looking away from her. "I r _eally_ wanted you to spend the night." She laughed lightly, tossing her hair to the side of her face, her hand landing on top of Paige's hand in her lap. She opened her mouth, about to say something about how she knew that it would've been too soon, but she shrugged her shoulders instead. She didn't want to walk the statement back. What she had said was true: After spending that evening with Paige, she had really wanted to spend the night with her.

"I would have," Paige said, nodding her head slightly. "I mean, if for no other reason than…" Paige raised her hand and shook her head, declining to finish the thought.

"For no other reason than what?" Emily tilted her head towards Paige, her forehead wrinkled in concern tinged with curiosity. She squeezed Paige's hand when Paige hesitated to fill in the blanks.

"You know," Paige said with a shrug, taking over from Emily as the person who shyly looked away. "You… here… alone… this big old house."

"Aww – you wanted to protect me!" Emily's tone was patronizing, even though she was deeply moved by the sentiment. She placed a quick series of kisses on Paige's cheek, stopping only when Paige's hand landed on her cheek and turned her head, so that their lips met. The series of kisses transitioned into one long, deeply-felt kiss.

"So you were jealous?" Emily proclaimed when their lips parted, sitting up straight with a wriggle of fake pride.

"Yeah, I was," Paige replied matter-of-factly. "I mean, I was happy for you, of course." Paige stroked Emily's hair. "I really was." Dipping her head, she added, "I just hoped that whoever your date was, it was someone who appreciated you, and would treat you like the queen you are."

Emily pursed her lips, slightly overwhelmed by what Paige had said. "It was," Emily assured her softly. She drew Paige close for a hug and repeated, "It was."

* * *

 **A/N – Thanks ever so much for sticking with this "one-shot" that refused to die! :) (If I had known it would go on this long, I would've spent more time on the title!)**

 **Special thanks to everyone who took the time to review, and extra, extra special thanks to those of you who reviewed every chapter. You don't know how much that means to me.**

 **I honestly love you all!**


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